{"id":881112,"date":"2026-10-13T18:26:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T18:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/881112\/"},"modified":"2026-10-13T18:26:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T18:26:11","slug":"pennsylvania-announces-sixth-death-in-measles-outbreak-as-case-numbers-rise-pennsylvania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/881112\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania announces sixth death in measles outbreak as case numbers rise | Pennsylvania"},"content":{"rendered":"

A sixth death has been announced in Pennsylvania<\/a>\u2019s measles outbreak, as new figures show cases in the state have risen above 1,100.<\/p>\n

The most recent fatality was reported in Franklin county on Monday in a statement<\/a> posted to Facebook by its coroner. The victim was identified as a 39-year-old female who \u201chad several underlying conditions, including a past diagnosis of measles with treatment\u201d.<\/p>\n

The coroner, James Conner, said it was the first measles-related death in the county \u201cfor many years\u201d \u2013 and that the patient\u2019s recent diagnosis met the definition of the Pennsylvania<\/a> health department for inclusion.<\/p>\n

Five other people have died<\/a> after contracting measles since August in Pennsylvania, which state officials said on Monday had now recorded 1,137 cases<\/a> and 219 hospitalizations. The outbreak began west of Philadelphia in April, with authorities blaming low vaccination rates.<\/p>\n

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), however, continues to list deaths nationally at two amid a dispute between the Trump administration\u2019s health secretary, Robert F Kennedy, and Pennsylvania\u2019s governor, Josh Shapiro, over the methodology for classifying measles-related fatalities.<\/p>\n

The CDC\u2019s website<\/a>, last updated on Friday, shows 4,080 confirmed measles infections across the US in 42 separate outbreaks, the highest figures in decades, and almost double the number of cases for the whole of 2025.<\/p>\n

Earlier in October, New York\u2019s governor, Kathy Hochul, declared an emergency because of rising case numbers in her state; while Ohio, South Carolina, Texas and Utah have also seen significant increases.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Pennsylvania health department told NBC News<\/a> on Monday that it was aware of the Franklin county fatality \u2013 and was \u201cconducting a thorough review of the reported death\u201d.<\/p>\n

The coroner\u2019s office told the outlet through a spokesperson that the woman\u2019s \u201cprimary cause of death was a probable acute cardiac event due to possible complications of the measles\u201d. The coroner\u2019s office spokesperson said the woman was not vaccinated.<\/p>\n

Conner\u2019s statement did not identify the woman to protect the privacy of the victim and relatives. \u201cFamilies deserve the dignity to mourn in private,\u201d that statement said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe strongly encourage our medical community, first responders, and the public to follow the precautions set forth by\u201d Pennsylvania state guidelines.<\/p>\n

Those state guidelines<\/a> recommend two doses of the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine, or a combined MMRV vaccine including varicella (chickenpox) protection for children 12 and older.<\/p>\n

The CDC website recommends the same vaccinations, but Kennedy \u2013 a longtime vaccine skeptic \u2013 has offered mixed messages. In March 2025, he questioned the effectiveness of the measles vaccine, saying people should be able \u201cto make that choice for themselves<\/a>\u201d about whether to take it.<\/p>\n

And in September, he told anti-vaccine activists at a conference in Washington DC that they had \u201ca strong and steadfast friend<\/a> at the White House\u201d, a month after telling US families in response to the rise in measles cases nationwide that parents \u201cshould get their children vaccinated<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Pennsylvania outbreak has seen 157 new cases over the last week, state figures showed, and one-third of the overall number of infections have come in those 18 or under. Fewer than 1% of cases occurred in those who are fully vaccinated.<\/p>\n

The first two fatalities, reported in August, were infants, one whose mother had measles during her pregnancy, and the second a six-week-old who also had a rare genetic condition.<\/p>\n

The other Pennsylvania victims were women aged 40 and 20, and an 18-year-old, all of whom had coexisting health conditions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A sixth death has been announced in Pennsylvania\u2019s measles outbreak, as new figures show cases in the state…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":881113,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[97],"class_list":["post-881112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=881112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881112\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/881113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=881112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=881112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=881112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}