Pennsylvania reported Wednesday that a fifth person who had measles has died as rising infections in the state continue to push up the country’s record-breaking count of cases.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health said an unvaccinated Lancaster County resident who tested positive for measles had died. No additional information about the person was immediately released.
The new death highlights the widening gap between Pennsylvania’s tally and the number being reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and underscores the seriousness of the state’s outbreak. Earlier this week, federal health officials updated the national measles death toll to two— at a time when Pennsylvania had already reported four deaths.
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.
Pennsylvania has now confirmed 943 measles cases across 39 counties this year, up from 903 on Monday.
South Carolina reported 997 confirmed infections in an outbreakthat started in October 2025 and ended in April. Pennsylvania is home to the country’s largest ongoing measles outbreak.
Measles cases in the United States hit a 35-year record high this summer.
The vaccine-preventable disease has made a dramatic comeback in the U.S., with repeated introductions of the highly contagious virus fueling sustained outbreaks in multiple states rather than remaining confined to isolated pockets. Declining childhood vaccination rates have left more communities vulnerable, while health departments have fewer workers to trace cases and contain outbreaks, and often struggle to reach communities with low vaccination rates and deep distrust of government and health institutions. The resurgence has also forced many doctors to relearn how to recognize and manage a disease they had rarely, if ever, encountered during their careers.
Public health officials and infectious-disease clinicians say the actual number of cases in measles outbreaks is often several times higher than the numbers reported because many people do not seek care. In the U.S., measles is estimated to kill about one to three of every 1,000 people who become infected.
Federal health officials this week increased the national measles deaths toll to two after reviewing death certificate information from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. In this outbreak, the CDC has changed how it counts measles deaths, relying on death certificates that identify measles as the underlying cause rather than automatically incorporating deaths reported by state health departments.
Pennsylvania uses its own definition for determining whether a death is associated with measles. State officials consider factors including whether a person had symptoms consistent with measles, tested positive for the virus and died within 30 days after symptoms began. Officials also review medical records and other information to determine whether the death was clearly caused by something unrelated. State officials said they reported the death Wednesday to the CDC.
“We are deeply saddened to hear of another death in Pennsylvania,” said Emily Hilliard, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services. In a statement, she said the CDC is ready to deploy epidemiologists to support Pennsylvania. She said the CDC has not received a formal request for assistance from Pennsylvania. She added that Texas, South Carolina, Virginia, Kansas, New Mexico and Wisconsin requested CDC assistance and worked alongside federal teams “to help bring their outbreaks rapidly and successfully under control.”
The dispute over how the deaths are being counted has fueled weeks of tension between Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., beginning after the state reported two measles-associated deaths in Lancaster County in August.
Lancaster County coroner Stephen Diamantoni said he was informed by the state health department earlier Wednesday that authorities were releasing information about a measles-related death. He said his office has not received any reports of deaths that must be reported to the coroner, such as infectious diseases that could cause public risk.
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