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A fifth, unvaccinated person has died of measles in Pennsylvania, the state’s health department announced Wednesday. The department identified the deceased as a resident of Lancaster County, which is the epicenter of a raging outbreak that began in late April. The updated case count as of Wednesday is 943 across 39 counties, including 119 cases reported in just the last seven days. At least 176 people have been hospitalized. Lancaster County has reported 381 cases and three of the five deaths in the outbreak. The previous two deaths were both in infants too young to be vaccinated. That includes a newborn boy and a 6-week-old baby girl. So far, no other information has been released about the county’s third death announced today. The other two deaths were in an unvaccinated 18-year-old resident of Mifflin County, who developed a severe neurological complication of measles, and an unvaccinated 40-year-old woman, who had several chronic underlying health conditions that put her at higher risk of severe infection, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Prior to these five deaths in Pennsylvania, the state had not reported a measles death in 35 years. To date, they are the only measles deaths reported this year in the US. Last year, the US saw three measles deaths: two in otherwise-healthy, unvaccinated school-aged children in Texas and an unvaccinated adult in New Mexico. All three were connected to a massive measles outbreak in West Texas, which spilled over to nearby states. Prior to the 2025 deaths, the US had not seen a measles death since 2015.
document fetched 2026-10-01 03:02 · canonical https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/09/fifth-unvaccinated-person-dies-of-measles-cdc-still-not-counting-all-deaths