Adults Comprise Two-Thirds of Pennsylvania Measles Cases Amidst Longstanding Vaccine Hesitancy
Pennsylvania is experiencing a measles outbreak where adults account for two-thirds of the cases, a situation described as 'quite unusual' by medical experts. Dr. William Moss, a professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, notes that this predominance of adult infections is atypical for measles outbreaks. The conditions in certain Pennsylvania communities, particularly Plain communities like the Amish and Mennonites, have created an environment conducive for the virus to spread among adults. These communities have historically maintained low vaccination rates, but were previously protected by high herd immunity in the broader population. For the past 25 years, limited exposure to wild-type measles meant infectious individuals rarely entered these communities. However, this long-standing vaccine hesitancy, which predates the COVID-19 pandemic, has led to generations of unvaccinated individuals. Lancaster County alone accounts for 504 of the state's measles infections, significantly more th...