A 39-year-old woman from Franklin County, Pennsylvania, who had been diagnosed with measles has died, according to the local coroner’s office, marking the sixth such death reported since the state’s outbreak began this year.
This is the county’s first measles-associated death in “many years” of a patient who had “a recent history” of having contracted the highly contagious disease, the coroner’s office wrote in a Facebook post, adding that it meets the state health department’s definition of a measles-associated death. The woman had several underlying health conditions and had a “past diagnosis of measles with treatment.”
The coroner’s office, which is led by Jordan F. Conner, a Republican, was not immediately available for an interview. The state health department did not immediately comment on the reported death.
Pennsylvania is in the midst of a growing outbreak of measles as the United States faces the highest measles tally since 1991. The state is also the center of a bitter political dispute between Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro.
Shapiro has accused Kennedy — the founder of a prominent anti-vaccine group — of sowing confusion about vaccines and contributing to the spread of a disease that the United States eliminated more than 25 years ago. Kennedy has contended that the governor, who is widely expected to run for president, is using the moment for political gain.
As of Friday, the state had confirmed 1,136 measles cases across 41 counties, in the first U.S. outbreak to surpass 1,000 cases in 35 years.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health has reported five measles-associated deaths in the state, and infectious-disease experts say that indicates the outbreak is far larger than the number of reported cases.
The state defines a measles-associated death as one that occurs within 30 days of symptom onset with clinical evidence of a measles infection and a positive laboratory test, and that is not due to unrelated causes, such as a car accident.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has included two deaths in its national measles tally. The website does not say where the deaths occurred, but Pennsylvania is the only state to have reported fatalities this year. After the state announced its first two deaths, the CDC excluded them from the tally, a decision that came from the agency’s new director, Erica Schwartz. Former officials called the move highly unusual and said it departs from the agency’s typical practices.
Measles has surged in the U.S. this year amid declining vaccination rates and the Trump administration’s efforts to change federal vaccine policy. Over 4,000 measles cases have been reported this year, according to the CDC.
The Department of Health and Human Services has defended its response to the growing outbreak, saying Kennedy has “repeatedly stated that MMR vaccination is the most effective way to prevent measles infection.”
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