The Georgia Department of Health (DPH) is alerting healthcare providers to a detection of measles found in sewage samples through routine wastewater testing. The positive samples were collected on Sunday March 29, 2026, from a wastewater treatment plant in the South Metro Atlanta Area, Georgia.
Detection of measles in wastewater does not represent an official measles case and this comes at a time when no active measles infections have been reported in Georgia. However, DPH urges healthcare providers to maintain heightened awareness for patients with symptoms compatible with measles and continue to promote vaccination. This detection could mean that there was at least one person with a measles infection present or traveling through the South Metro Atlanta Area around the time of this detection.