Lancaster County Coroner Confirms Measles Killed 6-Week-Old Infant, Undercutting RFK Jr.'s 'Fabricated' Claim

Since Pennsylvania health officials announced the state's first measles deaths in 35 years last month, the case has turned into a public fight over whether those deaths were real, and now one of them has an official answer.

Lancaster County Coroner Stephen Diamantoni confirmed Friday that a 6-week-old infant girl died of measles at her home around August 18, according to Lancaster Online, which first reported the finding. The baby had Amish lethal microcephaly, a rare genetic condition affecting roughly 1 in 500 Old Order Amish births in Pennsylvania that causes infants to be born with abnormally small, underdeveloped brains. Most children with the condition die before their first birthday, typically from respiratory infections.

Diamantoni, a Republican elected coroner and physician, told Lancaster Online the child had tested positive for measles and that her clinic, the Clinic for Special Children in Leacock Township, hadn't initially reported the death to his office because it wasn't unexpected given her underlying condition. "The child did test positive for measles. We know that children with this disorder will die of respiratory infections," Diamantoni said. "Measles is a respiratory infection and we know the life expectancy of these poor kids is very short."

The Clinic for Special Children declined to release further details Friday, citing patient privacy, according to Epoch Times.

A separate, still-disputed second death

The confirmed case is distinct from the other death Pennsylvania officials announced last month: a newborn boy whose death Diamantoni has said was caused by a lacerated or ruptured spleen, with measles listed as a contributing but not underlying condition on the death certificate. The family, who are also Amish, told The Atlantic they believe a severe case of measles during the mother's pregnancy contributed to the infant's death, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Breitbart's John Nolte argued in a column that Governor Josh Shapiro and outlets including NBC News misrepresented that case, noting Diamantoni found no evidence the newborn's spleen was enlarged, a condition doctors say typically precedes a measles-related rupture. Nolte also argued it was misleading for the state to describe the infant as "unvaccinated" since babies aren't eligible for the MMR vaccine until 12 to 15 months of age. Those are fair points about the newborn's case specifically. But they don't apply to the 6-week-old girl, whose measles death the coroner has now separately and directly confirmed, with no dispute over an enlarged spleen or an alternate cause.

The Kennedy-Shapiro feud

The dispute escalated after HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote on X that Pennsylvania's announcement "appears to have been premature" and suggested the deaths "may even have been altogether fabricated by one of the Governor's hopeful staffers," according to Fox News. Kennedy then directed newly appointed CDC Director Erica Schwartz to strip the two deaths from the agency's public measles tracker, according to Reuters reporting cited by The Independent and confirmed by Ars Technica, which said CDC staff had already accepted the state's classification before Schwartz ordered the removal.

As of Friday, the CDC's public tracker still shows zero U.S. measles deaths for 2026, with an asterisk where the figure would appear, according to Ars Technica. A separate report Thursday found the two deaths remain in an internal CDC database even though they're absent from the public-facing page, per Ars Technica.

CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz told Fox Business, "We don't know exactly what happened in Pennsylvania yet. We don't know if the children died from measles or had another condition that was already attacking them and they happened to get measles at the same time." That was a fair description of the uncertainty around the newborn's case. It is no longer an accurate description of the 6-week-old's, now that the coroner has issued a direct confirmation.

Shapiro posted on X Friday that questioning the deaths fueled "conspiracy theories" that "denied these families' pain, invaded their privacy, and undermined public health," and called on federal officials to reflect the deaths in the CDC's database, according to Epoch Times.

Where the count stands

Pennsylvania's Department of Health reported 577 total measles cases statewide as of its September 4 update, including 115 in the previous seven days, with nearly 100 patients hospitalized, according to Epoch Times. Nationally, the U.S. has recorded 3,134 confirmed measles cases in 2026, the most in a single year since 1991.

Lancaster County Coroner Diamantoni told WHTM on a separate occasion that his office had received a report of "another child who died with measles" and was investigating, according to The Independent. It remains unclear whether that report is further clarification of the two previously announced deaths or brings the total to three. The Independent said it had asked Diamantoni's office for clarification and had not received a response as of its report. Whether Pennsylvania's official death toll stands at two, or rises to three, remains an open question the coroner's office has not yet resolved.