Unvaccinated 39-Year-Old Woman Becomes Sixth Measles Death in Pennsylvania Outbreak

A 39-year-old unvaccinated woman in Franklin County, in the US state of Pennsylvania, died on Saturday, October 10, becoming the sixth person to die of measles in the state's outbreak. Measles is a highly infectious viral disease. The outbreak began in April and has since sickened more than a thousand people.

The woman had several underlying health conditions and had recently tested positive for measles. This was stated in an advisory on social media by Franklin County Coroner Jordan Conner, who noted that her death meets the state health department's definition of a measles death. The coroner's office told The Washington Post that the primary cause of death was listed as a probable acute cardiac event due to possible complications of measles.

Earlier deaths

Five people had died in the outbreak before her: a newborn, a 6-week-old infant, an 18-year-old, a 20-year-old and a 40-year-old. All were unvaccinated, and the two infants were too young to be vaccinated.

Scale of the outbreak

According to the latest update from the Pennsylvania health department, published Friday, October 9, the state has recorded 1,136 measles cases this year, 1,124 of them linked to the current outbreak. In total, 218 people have been hospitalized.

The outbreak now covers 41 of the state's 67 counties and shows no signs of slowing. In the previous week alone, 157 new cases were reported.