(CNN) \u2014 A 40-year-old woman who lived in Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, has died from measles complications, the county coroner confirmed Sunday. It\u2019s the third measles-associated death in a fast-growing outbreak that\u2019s sparked a political clash between state and federal officials.<\/p>\n
The woman died Saturday, according to a news release from the Jefferson County Coroner\u2019s Office, which said it was working with the Pennsylvania Department of Health on the case. The woman hadn\u2019t been vaccinated against measles, the coroner, Greg Furlong, confirmed to CNN.<\/p>\n
The death follows two measles-associated deaths<\/a> reported in Lancaster County at the end of August<\/a>, the first connected to the viral illness in the state in 35 years. That county is the epicenter of Pennsylvania\u2019s measles outbreak, which had reached<\/a> 676 cases as of Friday, 108 of which were added in the previous week. One hundred twenty-four people have been hospitalized.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a heartbreaking loss for the family and an unfortunate reminder that measles can be a serious and potentially life-threatening disease,\u201d Furlong said in a statement posted<\/a> on the coroner\u2019s office\u2019s Facebook page.<\/p>\n The woman contracted measles after a family member had it as well, Furlong told CNN, and noted she also had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, and asthma, and had been on supplemental oxygen 24 hours a day before getting measles.<\/p>\n The state health department said it\u2019s in touch with the coroner and is conducting its own review of the case, and said it will provide the public with updated information when it becomes available.<\/p>\n In some of her first public comments about the country\u2019s measles outbreaks, Dr. Erica Schwartz, the newly confirmed director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a statement that the agency hadn\u2019t been notified by Pennsylvania officials of the death.<\/p>\n \u201cDespite repeated offers of assistance, Pennsylvania has not requested a CDC Epi-Aid, which would deploy epidemiologists and provide on-the-ground measles outbreak support,\u201d Schwartz\u2019s statement, shared with CNN by email, said.<\/p>\n \u201cBy contrast, Texas, South Carolina, Virginia, Kansas, New Mexico, and Wisconsin have officially requested CDC Epi-Aids and worked alongside federal teams to help bring their measles outbreaks under control. CDC remains ready to provide Epi-Aid support to Pennsylvania as soon as the state officially requests our help.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, said in late August when the state announced the first two measles-associated deaths that he\u2019d declined an offer from Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services, for federal help. He then said he\u2019d told the secretary that his \u201cactions and his rhetoric,\u201d including spreading misinformation about vaccines, was harming communities.<\/p>\n Kennedy, an outspoken vaccine skeptic<\/a>, shot back on social media, accusing Shapiro of fearmongering and the \u201cweaponization of infectious disease\u201d for political gain. He suggested the deaths may have been \u201caltogether fabricated\u201d by one of Shapiro\u2019s \u201chopeful staffers\u201d to support a narrative that measles infection is more dangerous than it actually is.<\/p>\n The two deaths in Lancaster County were in infants, the county coroner there said, but his office disputed whether one of the deaths was caused by measles. A newborn died of a ruptured spleen, which the coroner, Dr. Stephen Diamantoni, said his forensic pathologist deemed wasn\u2019t caused by the viral illness.<\/p>\n A second death, in a six-week-old infant with a serious genetic condition called Amish lethal microcephaly, was caused by measles, Diamantoni told CNN<\/a>.<\/p>\n Measles typically causes about one in five people who aren\u2019t vaccinated to be hospitalized, according to the CDC<\/a>. As many as one out of every 20 children with measles gets pneumonia, the most common cause of death from measles in young children. One of every 1,000 kids with measles will develop brain swelling. The virus kills one to three of every 1,000 children who become infected.<\/p>\n \u201cMany people associate measles with a childhood illness, but it can lead to severe complications in individuals of any age,\u201d Jefferson County Chief Deputy Coroner and Public Relations Officer Jason Stiver said in the office\u2019s statement. \u201cMeasles is highly contagious and can result in serious respiratory illness, hospitalization, and in rare cases like this, death.\u201d<\/p>\n
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