A coroner in Pennsylvania announced the death of a 40-year-old woman associated with the state’s ongoing measles outbreak. The death appears to mark the third in the US state’s ongoing outbreak.
Two previous deaths in the state were in infant children. In one case, the infant was born with a genetic defect that made her vulnerable to infection. The second infant child was infected with measles, and died of a ruptured spleen.
The woman died on Saturday, according to reporting by WTAE in Pittsburgh.
“Many people associate measles with a childhood illness, but it can lead to severe complications in individuals of any age,” Jason Stiver, the Jefferson county chief deputy coroner and public relations officer, told WTAE.
Measles is one of the most infectious diseases known to medicine, and hospitalizes one in every five unvaccinated people it infects. Between one and three children in every 1,000 die from measles-related respiratory and neurologic complications.
“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.
“While cases of severe illness remain uncommon, this tragedy highlights that measles should not be taken lightly,” he said.
The coroner’s office is reportedly working with Pennsylvania state health officials on the case. The health department released its latest measles update on Friday, which did not reflect the death.
As of last week, the state had nearly 700 cases of measles across 37 counties. The outbreak is heavily concentrated in Lancaster and Mifflin counties, where there are large farming communities.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released data showing a steady decline in kindergarten vaccination rates, including among the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccines.
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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.”
