The Georgia Department of Public Health confirmed on Oct. 27 three additional measles cases in Macon County, about 60. miles southwest of Macon, Ga. All three individuals were unvaccinated and had close contact with a measles case confirmed on Oct. 12, 2026.
DPH has notified others who may have been exposed and are at increased risk of developing measles.
Symptoms of the highly contagious virus usually appear about a week after infection, with a breakthrough rash of tiny, red or red-brown spots that develops, usually at the head/hairline, and spreads downward over the face, neck, torso, arms, legs and feet.
If you feel ill, with a high fever, cough, runny nose and watery eyes, you may have been exposed to measles.
Tiny white spots (Koplik spots) may appear inside the mouth two to three days after symptoms begin, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Anyone experiencing measles symptoms should contact their healthcare provider immediately, but health officials say not to go to a doctor’s office, hospital or public health clinic without calling ahead to report your symptoms.
Vaccination is the best protection against measles. The CDC recommends two doses of the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine for children: the first at 12 to 15 months and the second at 4 to 6 years. Parents with questions about vaccination should talk to their healthcare provider.
People who were born after 1957 and vaccinated before 1968 may need an additional dose. That’s because a small group of people who were immunized during that time received an early, less effective version of the vaccine that used inactivated or killed virus.
These three cases bring Georgia’s total to 25 confirmed measles cases in 2026, compared to 10 cases in all of 2025.
This story comes to The Current GA through a reporting partnership with GPB News, a non-profit newsroom covering the state of Georgia.
