Seven confirmed measles cases have been reported in Franklin County, the home county of New Albany and Gahanna, as Ohio's third outbreak of 2026 spreads across 15 counties.

Statewide, 180 cases have been confirmed. The Ohio Department of Health (ODH) reported 47 new cases in its most recently recorded week, up from 11 the week before, according to NBC4. The vast majority of patients are unvaccinated, ODH data shows.

Franklin County had an earlier measles outbreak in February, according to the Akron Beacon Journal. The county's seven cases are part of a 2026 total that is already four times Ohio's entire 2025 count of 45, Cleveland 19 reported.

Ohio recorded seven cases in all of 2024.

Wayne County leads the state with 43 cases, followed by Geauga County at 38 and Ashtabula County at 32. Of Ohio's 180 cases through Sept. 15, 169 originated within the state, Cleveland 19 reported. Confirmed cases range in age from 15 months to 20 years.

Dr. Bryan Ghiloni, a family medicine physician at Mount Carmel Medical Group in Columbus, told NBC4 on Monday, Sept. 21, that the weekly spike was "an unprecedented jump" and that the trajectory is concerning even if raw numbers seem small.

"People can be contagious — they can spread the disease before they have any symptoms," Ghiloni said.

Ghiloni said 90% of patients who contracted measles were unvaccinated. Herd immunity requires 95% of a community to be vaccinated, he said. Ohio's MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccination rate for children and adolescents was 91.5% in 2023, the most recent year available from ODH, the Beacon Journal reported. Statewide, about 85% of kindergartners in the 2025-2026 school year had full immunizations, according to WTOL, citing an ODH data tool.

Both figures fall below the 95% threshold.

Nationally, the CDC reported 3,471 confirmed measles cases as of Sept. 17, with 95% linked to outbreaks. Two doses of the MMR vaccine are about 97% effective at preventing measles, the CDC says. Two unvaccinated infants died from measles in Pennsylvania in 2026, the first measles deaths in that state in 35 years, the Beacon Journal reported.

ODH Director Bruce Vanderhoff said in a July 30 statement that the outbreaks are preventable and urged families to get vaccinated. Ohio law still requires students from kindergarten through 12th grade to be vaccinated against 10 diseases.

Measles symptoms include a rash, high fever, cough and red, watery eyes, and can appear seven to 21 days after exposure, according to ODH. Children younger than 5 and adults older than 20 face the highest risk of complications, with as many as one in 20 children developing pneumonia.

ODH updates its infectious disease dashboard weekly.