Third Pennsylvania Measles Death Reported as Fight Over Whether the First Two Were Actually Caused by Measles Drags On

Since Pennsylvania officials announced the state's first two measles-associated deaths on Aug. 25, a third fatality has emerged, and the political fight over how the first two deaths are being counted has not gone away.

Jefferson County Coroner Greg Furlong confirmed Saturday that a 40-year-old woman died from complications tied to measles, according to CBS News and the Philadelphia Inquirer. Furlong, an elected Republican, told the Inquirer the woman was unvaccinated, had underlying chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, hypertension and high cholesterol, and used supplemental oxygen around the clock.

Her death certificate lists the cause of death as acute on chronic hypoxemic and hypercapnic respiratory failure due to suspected measles, COPD and asthma, Furlong told the Inquirer. Family members said the woman declined to be tested for measles before she died but had been exposed to people with both confirmed and unconfirmed cases, Furlong said. She developed a rash and fever days before her death.

Paul Offit, who heads the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, told the Inquirer that patients with pre-existing respiratory conditions are especially vulnerable to measles. Jason Stiver, Jefferson County's chief deputy coroner, echoed that warning, telling WTAE that measles "can lead to severe complications in individuals of any age," not just children.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health said in a statement it is conducting a "thorough review" of the Jefferson County case and will update the public as more information becomes available.

The numbers

Pennsylvania has confirmed 676 measles cases across 37 counties this year, with 124 hospitalizations, according to the state health department's Friday update. Fewer than 1% of confirmed cases involved people who were fully vaccinated. Jefferson County itself has logged 26 cases in 2026.

Nationally, the CDC has recorded more than 3,200 measles cases this year, the country's worst outbreak in roughly three decades, according to NBC News and CBS News.

The unresolved Lancaster County dispute

The Jefferson County death arrives while a separate fight over Pennsylvania's first two measles-associated deaths, both in Lancaster County and announced Aug. 25, remains unsettled.

Lancaster County Coroner Dr. Stephen Diamantoni told local outlet LNP, as reported by the Epoch Times, that one of the two infants died from a laceration to the spleen, not measles, despite testing positive for the virus. Diamantoni said there was no swelling of the spleen that would indicate measles played a role, and said his office may never determine what caused the laceration. The Guardian reported the second infant had Amish lethal microcephaly, a rare genetic condition in which affected infants typically survive only about six months and require continuous palliative care from birth.

Lancaster County Commissioner Joshua Parsons told Fox News Digital that Shapiro's Aug. 25 press conference created "the underlying assertion" that both people died directly from measles, when the coroner's office has no record of a death it classifies as caused by measles. Parsons said Pennsylvania law requires deaths from contagious disease to be reported to the county coroner.

Kennedy has gone further, suggesting on social media that the deaths may have been "fabricated," and reportedly asked the CDC to exclude them from its national tally. The CDC, under new leadership, said in a statement that "discrepancies raise important questions, particularly because the Governor's Office has not provided CDC with information relevant to the outbreak and has declined our offers of assistance."

Pennsylvania Health Secretary Dr. Debra Bogen has stood by the state's classification. "As a pediatrician with more than 30 years of caring for children, I have thoroughly reviewed the case investigation information and sadly can confirm that there were two recent measles-associated deaths in Lancaster County," Bogen said in a statement to the Epoch Times. A health department spokesperson said the agency has "consistently used the term 'measles-associated'" rather than claiming measles was the sole cause.

Parsons and Kennedy's underlying concern is that officials may be rounding up ambiguous cases to make a public health point. A coroner did find one infant's death was driven by a ruptured spleen with no measles-related swelling, and the second infant had a separate, ultimately fatal genetic condition unrelated to vaccination status. Whether "measles-associated" is a fair classification for either death, or a stretch, is a genuine dispute between named officials that neither side has settled with new evidence since Aug. 28.

Breitbart's Nolte column went further than that factual dispute, framing the episode as a deliberate "hoax" and layering in personal attacks on Shapiro that have no bearing on the coroner's actual findings.

The Jefferson County woman's death comes with a signed death certificate from an elected coroner listing suspected measles as a contributing cause alongside her existing lung disease. This represents a distinction from the contested Lancaster cases that state health officials have not yet finished reviewing.

The Guardian also noted CDC data showing a continued decline in kindergarten MMR vaccination rates nationally, which experts have linked partly to the vaccine's own success in erasing public memory of severe measles and partly to years of vaccine skepticism promoted by Kennedy, who has repeatedly linked vaccines to autism without supporting evidence.

Pennsylvania's health department has not said when its review of the Jefferson County case, or the broader dispute over the Lancaster County classifications, will be complete.