A 40-year-old woman has died in Pennsylvania in connection with the state’s ongoing measles outbreak, according to a county coroner. If confirmed as outbreak-related, the death would be the third reported in the state.
The two earlier deaths involved infants. One baby was born with a genetic condition that increased her vulnerability to infection, while the other contracted measles and later died after suffering a ruptured spleen.
The woman died Saturday, Pittsburgh television station WTAE reported.
“Many people associate measles with a childhood illness, but it can lead to severe complications in individuals of any age,” Jason Stiver, chief deputy coroner and public relations officer for Jefferson County, told WTAE.
Measles ranks among the most contagious diseases known to medicine. About one in five unvaccinated people who contract the virus requires hospitalization, while respiratory and neurological complications linked to measles are fatal for roughly one to three children out of every 1,000 infected.
“Measles is highly contagious and can result in serious respiratory illness, hospitalization, and in rare cases like this, death. We encourage residents to stay informed, follow guidance from public health officials, and take appropriate steps to protect themselves and their families,” Stiver said.
Although severe cases remain relatively rare, he added, the death serves as a reminder that measles is not an illness to dismiss.
The county coroner’s office is said to be coordinating with Pennsylvania health authorities as the case is reviewed. The state Department of Health’s most recent measles report, issued Friday, did not include the woman’s death.
The state had recorded nearly 700 measles cases across 37 counties as of last week. Lancaster and Mifflin counties have emerged as the main centers of the outbreak, particularly within their sizable farming communities.
New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also points to a continuing decline in kindergarten vaccination rates, including coverage for the measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR, vaccine.
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Experts blamed the decline on the success of the vaccine itself – few people remember a time when children regularly died of measles – and confusion caused by Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary and a longtime vaccine skeptic who has repeatedly linked vaccines to autism without evidence.
Most recently, Kennedy reportedly asked the CDC to exclude Pennsylvania’s two measles deaths from its tally, and later acknowledged in a social media post that the CDC “waited for the evidence”. Pennsylvania state health officials have counted both deaths as measles-associated.
“The Lancaster County Coroner has now publicly stated that measles caused only the second infant’s death and has also publicly stated that the infant had Amish lethal microcephaly, a rare genetic condition in which infants typically live only about six months, received palliative care continuously from birth, and died at approximately two months of age,” said Kennedy. “The Coroner continues to state publicly that the first infant died from a lacerated spleen, not measles.”
