Pennsylvania infant dies as measles cases hit 35-year high

A 6-week-old Pennsylvania girl with measles has died, the Lancaster County coroner said, as the United States recorded 3,134 confirmed measles cases, its highest total in 35 years.

Dr. Stephen Diamantoni told NBC affiliate WGAL that the baby died in August and also had Amish lethal microcephaly, a rare genetic disorder. The Guardian reported that children with the condition typically live only five to six months and can be more vulnerable to respiratory infections.

The death is the second measles-related infant death identified in Lancaster County. A baby boy died shortly after birth in mid-August after his infected mother went into labor a month early. The Guardian, citing WGAL, reported that Diamantoni said a ruptured spleen, not measles, was the cause of death in that case, though measles was listed on the newborn’s death certificate. The Atlantic reported that the parents believe their baby died from measles.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and state Health Secretary Debra Bogen said last week that two Lancaster County residents had died in cases described as “measles-associated.” They did not provide further details, citing privacy laws and respect for the families. State health officials have not confirmed whether the 6-week-old was one of the two deaths announced last week, according to The New York Times as cited by The Guardian.

The outbreak in Pennsylvania has grown quickly. NBC News reported that at least 115 more people in the state, most of them in Lancaster County, were diagnosed with measles in the last week, bringing the state’s outbreak to about 577 cases within the last few months. The Guardian reported Pennsylvania had counted nearly 400 measles cases across 28 counties, nearly half of them in southern Lancaster County, with most reported cases among adults ages 18 to 49.

The national tally is also accelerating, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Wisconsin has 144 cases, up from 26 a month ago, while Ohio has 129 cases, up from just over 60 over the same period. Experts say the real number of infections is likely higher because many people are not tested.

“Measles is acting like it’s endemic now. There’s a lot of domestic transmission,” said Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, who directed the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases before resigning last year. “If I were a betting person, I would expect 5,000-plus cases this year.”

The outbreaks are threatening the country’s measles elimination status, which the U.S. achieved in 2000. Experts say nearly everyone who has had measles this year caught the virus from a family member, neighbor or another person inside the country; only 16 cases were reported among international visitors.

In November, a group within the World Health Organization, the Pan American Health Organization, is expected to review whether the U.S. has lost that status. Noel Brewer, chair of an independent committee assisting the CDC in analyzing the situation, said PAHO will examine whether a single chain of measles transmission has lasted more than 12 months and whether many cases have no known source.

“The country’s had measles cases every week for the last 20 months, and at least one regional outbreak has already passed the 12-month mark,” said Brewer, a professor of public health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “There’s no end in sight.”

The Pennsylvania deaths have also sparked a public dispute between Shapiro, a Democrat, and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime vaccine skeptic. After Shapiro criticized Kennedy’s vaccine rhetoric, Kennedy suggested on social media that the deaths had been “fabricated” by one of the governor’s staff members and accused Democrats of “fear-mongering, misinformation, finger-pointing, and the weaponization of infectious disease fears for political gain.”

As of Monday, The Guardian reported, top U.S. health officials and government agencies were not including the two recent measles-associated deaths in official counts. On Friday, the CDC referred a request for comment to a post on X from Kennedy saying the agency “will continue to update its reporting as additional information becomes available.”