{"id":277352,"date":"2026-09-02T14:10:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T14:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/277352\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T14:10:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T14:10:10","slug":"measles-deaths-reported-in-pennsylvania-not-included-in-latest-cdc-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/277352\/","title":{"rendered":"Measles deaths reported in Pennsylvania not included in latest CDC report"},"content":{"rendered":"

The federal health agency said it doesn’t have enough information to determine whether the two deaths were caused by measles or contributed. <\/p>\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did not include the two measles-related deaths reported last week<\/a> in Pennsylvania in its weekly report<\/a> but made note that they are being investigated.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The federal health agency cited the need for further information to determine whether the deaths were caused by measles or were coincidental.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported the two deaths to the CDC on Aug. 25, but the CDC said it would need to review additional information regarding the circumstances and causes of death before making a determination whether to include them in their death tally.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“At this time, available information does not establish whether measles caused or contributed to the deaths or whether the individuals died from other causes while infected with the measles,” the agency wrote in the report published Aug. 30.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania health officials said they thoroughly investigated both of the deaths before making the announcement. \u00a0<\/p>\n

The decision to exclude the deaths has been attributed to the CDC’s new director, Erica Schwartz, according to CNN<\/a>, which also reported that public health experts with knowledge of the agency’s operations said the decision was highly unusual.<\/p>\n

The day after Pennsylvania health officials announced the deaths, U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. alleged in a post on social media<\/a> that the announcement “appears to have been premature” and suggested that the state’s reporting may have been politically motivated.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

State health officials and elected officials held a news conference to report the deaths and said both individuals whose deaths were attributed to were not vaccinated against it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

State and federal health officials do agree that the two individuals who died tested positive for measles, but whether it caused their deaths remains contested.<\/p>\n

According to the latest report from the U.S. CDC,<\/a> nearly 3,000 cases have been confirmed so far in 2026, though that number may be higher based on individual state reporting. That’s already well above 2025’s total number of confirmed cases at 2,289.<\/p>\n

Three deaths were reported in 2025, which were the first deaths attributed to the virus in the U.S. in more than a decade.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Measles was considered eliminated from the U.S. in 2000, according to the CDC, meaning no cases were spreading within the country in more than a year, and new cases were only found in individuals who came into contact with the virus while traveling outside the U.S. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Measles is a highly contagious airborne virus that can be deadly, and outbreaks in recent years have been most commonly associated with a trend to not vaccinate against it, according to medical experts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The best way to protect yourself against measles is with the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, according to the CDC. The vaccine, administered over two doses, provides 97% lifetime protection and boost a person’s immune system.<\/p>\n

Children, older adults and people with chronic health conditions are most at risk.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The federal health agency said it doesn’t have enough information to determine whether the two deaths were caused…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":277353,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-277352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}