The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its national measles tally late Monday to include another death in 2026, bringing its total to two, after Pennsylvania reported four measles-associated deaths in a growing outbreak.
The CDC’s website did not identify the person who died or say where the death occurred, leaving unclear whether it was one of the four Pennsylvania cases. No other states have reported any measles-associated deaths. The agency updated its tally last week to include one death in 2026.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services said Tuesday that the National Center for Health Statistics informed CDC that it had received another report from a state about a measles-related death. “Through its standard process, NCHS verified that the death occurred and that measles was listed as the underlying cause of death,” Emily Hilliard said. “This is now reflected on the CDC website.”
The deaths have become the center of a bitter political feud between Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that started when Pennsylvania announced two measles-associated deaths in Lancaster County last month. The outbreak has grown to 903 cases, including 114 in the past seven days, state health authorities reported Monday.
After Pennsylvania announced its first deaths, the CDC excluded them from its weekly measles case-and-death tally, a decision that came from the agency’s new director, Erica Schwartz, The Washington Post previously reported. The highly unusual decision is a departure from the CDC’s practice of including such data from state health departments, which historically make the determinations.
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