The death toll in Pennsylvania’s measles outbreak rose this weekend with a county coroner’s report of a woman’s death from complications related to the disease.
The coroner’s office of western Pennsylvania’s Jefferson County reported that a 40-year-old woman died on Saturday from complications associated with measles.
The commonwealth has seen an outbreak of the highly-infectious disease, adding to a resurgence of measles in the United States as official data shows declining U.S. vaccination rates.
The coroner’s office said it was working with the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
“This is a heartbreaking loss for the family and an unfortunate reminder that measles can be a serious and potentially life-threatening disease,” Coroner Greg Furlong said in a statement posted on Facebook.
The state Department of Health said on Friday that it has confirmed 676 measles cases across Pennsylvania in 2026, with 124 measles-related hospitalizations.
The first U.S. measles-related deaths of the year were reported by the Pennsylvania Department of Health on August 25.
Read more: Pennsylvania reports first US measles deaths this year as outbreak grows
The Pennsylvania Department of Health said it is conducting its own review of the Jefferson County case based upon its detailed epidemiological case definition for a measles-associated death.
That definition was provided to the CDC and the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) on September 10, the statement added.
The CDC did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Jefferson County death.
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr a long-time skeptic of vaccines asked his new CDC director to remove a reference to the two deaths from the agency’s online measles tally after he questioned whether the disease contributed to the fatalities, Reuters reported earlier this month, citing people familiar with the matter.
Vaccination rates of 95% or higher can prevent outbreaks by creating what is known as herd immunity that protects people unable to be vaccinated.
Two doses of the measles-mumps-rubella shot provide 97% protection against the virus. Children typically first receive the vaccine when they are 12 to 15 months old and again at 4 to 6 years of age.
According to Pennsylvania Department of Health data for the 2025-2026 school year, 93.2% of Pennsylvania kindergarten-age children had received the required two doses of MMR vaccine, down from 93.7% during the 2024-2025 school year.
In Lancaster County, 87.6% of kindergarten students received the required two MMR doses during the 2025-2026 school year.
The federal government and state health officials need to try to identify communities that have low measles vaccination coverage, said Moss. “Many people in this country and in certain communities have a mistrust of measles vaccine partly fed by misinformation and disinformation.”
The number of U.S. measles cases in 2026 is the highest in a single year since the major resurgence between 1989 and 1991, when 55,000 infections and 123 deaths were recorded.
South Carolina earlier this year experienced the nation’s largest measles outbreak with nearly 1,000 infections over six months. It was declared over in April.
