Cases have more than doubled since August as a dispute with federal health officials over the death count continues.<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania has confirmed a fifth measles-associated death this year, as the number of infections approaches 1,000 amid a rapidly growing outbreak across the state.<\/p>\n
The Pennsylvania Department of Health announced on Wednesday that an unvaccinated resident of Lancaster County who tested positive for measles had died.<\/p>\n
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The department said the death was reported to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).<\/p>\n
The state has recorded 943 confirmed measles cases across 39 counties so far in 2026, including 40 new cases since September 28. At least 176 people have been hospitalised.<\/p>\n
The US is currently seeing the worst measles outbreak in the country since 1991, with several deaths reported over the last couple of years.<\/p>\n
Measles was declared eliminated in the US in 2000, but the highly infectious disease has made a comeback in recent years, a trend some experts have linked to a rise in vaccine scepticism<\/a>.<\/p>\n The latest death is the third associated with measles reported in Lancaster County this year.<\/p>\n Located in the south-central part of the state, Lancaster County is considered the centre of Pennsylvania Dutch Country, home to the nation\u2019s oldest Amish and Mennonite communities. Both communities have under-vaccinated populations.<\/p>\n Pennsylvania announced its first two measles-associated deaths<\/a> in August, the first measles-related deaths recorded in the state in 35 years. Since then, the number of confirmed infections has more than doubled.<\/p>\n The growing outbreak has prompted the administration of Governor Josh Shapiro to expand vaccination efforts and public health outreach.<\/p>\n Protection is most commonly conferred through a combination injection known as the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, or the MMR shot.<\/p>\n According to Pennsylvania\u2019s Department of Health, more than 53,000 MMR vaccine doses were administered statewide in September, more than twice the number given during a typical month. Health experts say that two doses of the MMR vaccine are about 97 percent effective at preventing measles.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, the CDC confirmed two<\/a> measles-related deaths in its national tally, though the agency did not identify where the deaths occurred.<\/p>\n The federal count has been at the centre of a dispute<\/a> between Shapiro and US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr over how measles deaths are classified.<\/p>\n Pennsylvania has reported five \u201cmeasles-associated\u201d deaths, a designation used when a person with confirmed measles dies within 30 days of developing symptoms, unless the death resulted from an unrelated event.<\/p>\n But Kennedy, a vaccine sceptic, has accused Shapiro of politicising the deaths and initially questioned whether two deaths reported by the state in August were linked to measles.<\/p>\n \u201cThe announcement appears to have been premature, and the deaths may even have been altogether fabricated by one of the Governor\u2019s hopeful staffers,\u201d Kennedy wrote on the social media platform X on August 26.<\/p>\n Infectious disease experts warn that the dispute over how to classify the deaths puts the CDC at odds with a longstanding approach to tracking the consequences of measles. Epidemiologists have told Al Jazeera that tracking \u201cmeasles-associated\u201d deaths has long been a standard<\/a> used by the World Health Organization and the CDC.<\/p>\n The latest death comes as Pennsylvania officials continue to seek additional federal assistance with the outbreak.<\/p>\n