Pennsylvania tallies a fifth death related to measles as outbreak approaches a thousand cases

By Deidre McPhillips, Meg Tirrell, CNN

(CNN) — The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported a fifth measles-associated death on Wednesday amid an ongoing outbreak that is on track to become the largest the US has seen in decades and has sparked political clashes.

The state health department said the person who died was unvaccinated and a resident of Lancaster County, where about 40% of the state’s measles cases have been concentrated.

As of Wednesday, Pennsylvania has reported 943 total cases since the outbreak began in April, including at least 176 hospitalizations. All but four of the cases have been among people who were not fully vaccinated.

The measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine is extremely effective. One dose is 93% effective against measles, and the recommended second dose bumps that protection up to 97% — and the immunity is lifelong. Extensive research has demonstrated the vaccine’s safety, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The Pennsylvania health department said that it “will not release any additional details that could personally identify” the person who died. But the department says that the death “meets the measles-associated death definition” and has been reported to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The four other measles-associated deaths reported by Pennsylvania include an unvaccinated teen who lived in Mifflin County, a 40-year old woman in Jefferson County and two infants in Lancaster County.

However, the recent deaths have led to a war of words over how measles deaths are counted. The CDC only counts two measles death on its dashboard, but notes that “this number is subject to change; CDC will update its reporting as additional information becomes available and relevant reviews are completed.”

Earlier this month, the Pennsylvania health department said that it requested assistance from the CDC’s Epi-Aid program — but Dr. Debra Bogen, department secretary, noted in a letter to CDC Director Dr. Erica Schwartz that the request would be rescinded “if CDC is unable to transparently and accurately communicate information about those measles-associated deaths.”

However, the US Department of Health and Human Services said that the CDC has not received a formal Epi-Aid request from Pennsylvania.

“If requested, CDC stands ready to deploy epidemiologists to support the state’s identified needs,” HHS press secretary Emily Hilliard told CNN in a statement. “Secretary Kennedy and CDC Director Dr. Erica Schwartz continue to recommend the MMR vaccine as the most effective way to prevent measles infection.”

It has been decades since the United States has tallied this number of measles deaths; 1991 was the last time there were more than four measles deaths in one year. Last year, there were three US deaths from measles – two in Texas and one in New Mexico.

Dr. Stephen Diamantoni, the Lancaster County coroner, said the latest death has not come through his office and the state health department told him it couldn’t share additional information with him.

“Any death caused by measles needs to be reported to the coroner’s office,” Diamantoni said. “Any information we receive from the Department of Health or any other source that would suggest a death may have been caused by measles would prompt an investigation on our office’s part, but we can’t initiate an investigation if we don’t know who that individual is, or whether or not they are felt to have died as a result of measles.”

Diamantoni, who is also a family physician and says he’s a strong advocate for immunization, said he’s concerned the outbreak will get worse as the seasons change.

“Measles generally, as well as many other respiratory illnesses, does tend to get worse over the fall and winter months, so it very well could become much worse.”

Nearly 3,700 measles cases have been reported nationwide so far in 2026, according to data published by the CDC. There haven’t been this many measles cases in the US in any other year since 1991 – surpassing a grim milestone that was just topped last year.

Death from measles occurs in one to three patients out of every 1,000 cases, which suggests that the Pennsylvania outbreak may be significantly larger than officially reported case counts suggest.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.