Pennsylvania health officials on Wednesday reported the death of an unvaccinated Lancaster County resident who tested positive for measles. This is the fifth measles-associated death in the state since August.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health did not provide the date of the individual’s death.
Other measles-associated deaths in the state included two infants with measles in Lancaster County, an 18-year-old resident of Mifflin County and a 40-year-old woman in Jefferson County. The last two occurred in mid-September, state health officials reported.
There have been 943 confirmed cases of measles in 39 counties in Pennsylvania, which are facing the largest outbreak of the highly contagious virus in the United States. Around 176 people were hospitalized. At least six babies have been born with congenital measles in the state.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has acknowledged only two deaths associated with measles this year, although it has not identified in which states they occurred or when. According to the CDC, 3,569 cases of measles have been confirmed this year nationwide.
“We are deeply saddened to learn of another death in Pennsylvania,” Emily Hilliard, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services, said in a statement, adding that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and CDC Director Erica Schwartz “continue to recommend the MMR vaccine as the most effective way to prevent measles infection.”
Gn Health
