A third death in Pennsylvania

A 40-year-old woman in Jefferson County died Saturday from measles complications, the county coroner's office said. It is the third measles-associated death reported in the state.

What the death certificate says

A preliminary certificate listed respiratory failure from "suspected measles," along with COPD and asthma. Coroner Greg Furlong plans to upgrade that to "probable" after meeting the woman's family.

Unvaccinated, and exposed next door

The woman had not been vaccinated. She had recently been in contact with a neighbor who had a laboratory-confirmed case of measles.

Not just a kids' disease

The county's chief deputy coroner used the death to push back on a common assumption about who measles actually hurts.

“Many people associate measles with a childhood illness, but it can lead to severe complications in individuals of any age.”

676 cases and climbing

As of Friday, Pennsylvania had confirmed 676 measles cases and 124 hospitalizations. Lancaster County alone accounts for 295 of them.

Where the cases are

Jefferson County, about 50 miles from Pittsburgh, has 26 cases. Southeastern Pennsylvania has 68, with 65 in Chester County and three in Montgomery County.

The state's count says two

The health department lists only two measles-associated deaths, and Pennsylvania has been at the center of a fight over how those deaths get counted.

The Lancaster County infants

A 6-week-old girl with Amish lethal microcephaly died of measles, the coroner found. The genetic defect had left her vulnerable to infection.

The second infant case

A newborn boy died of a ruptured spleen. The coroner ruled measles did not cause it, but listed it on the certificate as a significant condition at the time of death.

How the state defines it

A death counts if it happens within 30 days of symptom onset in a lab-confirmed case and is not from an unrelated cause like a car crash. Exposure history and medical records factor in too.

Two jobs, two answers

Epidemiologist Katrine Wallace argues the numbers are not in conflict. Coroners make legal findings case by case. State health departments track disease to contain outbreaks.

The CDC counts zero

The agency lists no US measles deaths this year, saying the National Center for Health Statistics has no 2026 records naming measles as the underlying cause.

“does not currently have any death records from 2026 that indicate measles is the underlying cause”

Shapiro versus Kennedy

Gov. Josh Shapiro accused HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of spreading measles misinformation. Kennedy repeated a debunked claim about the MMR vaccine and accused Shapiro of fabricating the deaths.