The ongoing measles resurgence has brought cases to Central New York, according to state data.
In 2026, the New York State Department of Health has reported 62 cases of the disease outside of New York City, according to the department’s measles dashboard. Many of the cases are in New York’s Southern Tier, but Cayuga, Cortland and Madison counties have four cases combined. No cases have been reported in Onondaga County.
Measles is one of the most infectious diseases on the planet, according to Dr. Stephen Thomas, an immunologist at Upstate Medical Center. The disease is eight times as transmissible as influenza and three times as transmissible as the most infectious variants of COVID-19, Thomas said.
“It's highly, highly transmittable,” said Thomas. “It's probably one of the most transmissible diseases on the planet right now. … But the good news is it's a vaccine preventable disease, and if people get vaccinated, they are highly protected for a very, very long period of time.”
Mild symptoms of measles typically include a high fever, a runny nose, and rashes, Thomas said. However, in severe cases it can result in brain inflammation, brain damage, and a decline in immune system function.
“The measles virus can destroy cells in our immune system and wipe them out, which leaves us vulnerable to the kind of common infections for anywhere from two to three years,” Thomas said.
The first vaccine for measles was developed in the 1960s. After a decades-long public health vaccination campaign, the disease was declared eliminated in 2000. However, rising anti-vaccine misinformation has reversed the trend, and the disease made a comeback in the 2020s, most notably in 2025 and 2026. As of September 17, 3,471 confirmed cases have been reported by the CDC.
“I don’t think it is a surprise in the current environment in this country regarding vaccination, it's not surprising that people are choosing to not be vaccinated,” said Thomas. “It's not surprising that people are therefore getting infected and transmitting it to other people and people are ending up in the hospital.”
He noted that although there aren’t any cases yet in Onondaga County, local hospitals are treating measles patients from outside the county.
In order to prevent measles outbreaks, a community’s vaccination rate must reach 95 percent, according to the CDC. In Onondaga County, the rate of measles, mumps and rubella vaccination for children at two years old is 87.8 percent, according to the Department of Health dashboard. Nearby Cayuga County is at 85.7 percent, Madison County is at 82.9 percent, and Cortland County is 83.4 percent.
“It's very low,” said Dr. Jana Shaw, associate professor of pediatrics at SUNY Upstate Medical University. “[The data] likely underestimate[s] the burden of the problem because when you look at certain communities, you will find groups of individuals that have rates of vaccination even lower.”
She notes that since measles has been eradicated for so long, many health care providers aren’t experienced in treating measles patients.
“We have to retrain providers to remind them what measles is because they haven't seen it because the vaccine has worked so well,” Shaw said.
So far, three measles-related deaths have occurred in Pennsylvania, which has 792 cases as of September 21. One of the deaths was a newborn baby.
The Trump administration recently changed the way the CDC counts measles deaths, The Guardian reported on September 14. Instead of tracking individual deaths, the CDC now tracks mortality trends over time. While the CDC reported three measles deaths in 2025, no measles deaths are reported for 2026 on the CDC’s website.
Shaw encourages all parents to get their children vaccinated.
“To see people refusing vaccination because they're victims of misinformation and then their children get infected and suffer, it's frustrating, it's heartbreaking, and it's very sad to have to live through this,” Shaw said.
