A 40-year-old woman from Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, died Saturday, September 12, 2026, from complications her county coroner has linked to measles. Officials disclosed her death publicly the next day. It is the third measles-related death Pennsylvania has reported in 2026 and the first involving an adult. The two earlier deaths, both in Lancaster County, were the state’s first measles-associated deaths in 35 years. The outbreak is widely reported as the largest active one in the country.
Key facts
- Who: A 40-year-old woman from Jefferson County, Pennsylvania; her name has not been released
- When: Died Saturday, September 12, 2026; officials disclosed the death publicly the next day
- Cause: Complications her county coroner linked to measles; she was unvaccinated and had COPD and asthma
- Toll: Officials describe it as the third measles-related death of 2026
- Statewide: 676 confirmed cases as of September 11, with 124 hospitalizations across 37 of the state’s 67 counties
- National ranking: Pennsylvania now has more cases than any other state, ahead of South Carolina’s 671
- Nationally: The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) counted 3,294 confirmed cases as of September 10 — the most in the U.S. in a single year since 2000
- CDC tally: None of Pennsylvania’s three deaths currently appears in the CDC’s national count
Her name has not been released. The Jefferson County coroner’s office said she was unvaccinated against measles, had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease — a long-term lung condition — and asthma, and already needed supplemental oxygen around the clock. She had known contact with people who had confirmed or suspected measles and developed a rash and fever in the days before she died. Before she died, she declined to be tested for measles herself; because of that, the coroner classifies her case as suspected rather than laboratory-confirmed. Her death certificate lists respiratory failure, with suspected measles and her underlying lung disease as contributing conditions. “This is a heartbreaking loss for the family and an unfortunate reminder that measles can be a serious and potentially life-threatening disease,” Jefferson County Coroner Greg Furlong said.
Jefferson County, a rural county roughly 50 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, has recorded 26 measles cases this year — a small share of the state’s total. The outbreak is centered in Lancaster County, which accounts for a large share of the state’s cases. Statewide, Pennsylvania’s Department of Health counted 676 confirmed cases as of its September 11 update, with 124 hospitalizations. Those cases span 37 of the state’s 67 counties, in an outbreak that began in late April. That statewide total puts Pennsylvania ahead of South Carolina, which had 671 cases, as the state with the most measles cases in the country this year. Nationally — across the entire United States — the CDC’s own count reached 3,294 confirmed cases as of September 10, the most the country has recorded in a single year since measles was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000.
Timeline
- Late April — Pennsylvania’s measles outbreak begins
- August 14 — A Lancaster County newborn dies of a ruptured spleen while infected with measles; the county’s forensic pathologist finds no sign measles caused the injury
- August 25 — Pennsylvania announces two infant measles-linked deaths in Lancaster County
- September 10 — The CDC’s national count reaches 3,294 confirmed cases for 2026, the most since 2000
- September 11 — Pennsylvania updates its count to 676 confirmed cases and 124 hospitalizations; the state’s official tally still lists two deaths
- September 12 — A 40-year-old woman in Jefferson County dies from complications her coroner links to measles
- September 13 — Officials disclose the Jefferson County death publicly; the CDC says it has not yet been notified
Why the state and the CDC don’t agree on the death toll
Pennsylvania officials describe the Jefferson County case as the state’s third measles-related death of 2026, following two infant deaths in Lancaster County that were announced August 25. The state’s own official tally, published the day before this latest death, still listed two, and the Pennsylvania Department of Health says it is conducting a thorough review of the Jefferson County case. The CDC’s national data page, last updated September 11, states that federal death records don’t currently show any 2026 fatality with measles listed as the underlying cause — meaning none of Pennsylvania’s three cases currently appears in the government’s national count, and as of September 13 the CDC said it had not yet even been notified of the Jefferson County death.
The federal tally dispute concerns how those August deaths were classified. After Pennsylvania announced its first two deaths in August, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. directed CDC Director Dr. Erica Schwartz to hold both cases out of the federal tally while questioning how they had been classified, calling the state’s announcement “premature” and posting on social media that the deaths “may even have been altogether fabricated” by “one of the Governor’s hopeful staffers,” while accusing Shapiro of “weaponization of infectious disease” — an accusation Pennsylvania officials denied. Pennsylvania Health Secretary Dr. Debra Bogen responded that she had “thoroughly reviewed the case investigation information” and could confirm both deaths. Kennedy later said he accepted that measles did cause one of the two infant deaths after reviewing the coroner’s findings. Neither he nor the CDC has said why that acknowledgment hasn’t led to the two cases being added back into the CDC’s national count. Gov. Josh Shapiro has argued that federal messaging that isn’t “driven by facts and by science… Makes it even more confusing for parents.”
The two Lancaster County cases are not identical. State investigators concluded that measles did cause the death of one infant, a six-week-old girl born with a rare, ultimately fatal genetic condition. The second case, a newborn who died August 14 of a ruptured spleen, is murkier: the county’s own forensic pathologist found no medical signs that measles caused that specific injury. Pennsylvania is still counting the case as measles-associated, not because measles caused the spleen injury, but simply because the infant had measles at the time of death.
What Pennsylvania is doing about it
The state has relied on outreach. State health officials say they have run roughly 130 pop-up vaccination clinics in affected communities since the outbreak began, giving out nearly 4,300 MMR doses. Health workers have also gone door to door, offering shots at people’s kitchen tables. Statewide, providers gave more than 46,000 MMR doses in August alone — nearly double the typical monthly pace of about 25,000, according to the state health department. State data show the outbreak has spread almost entirely among people who were not vaccinated: fewer than 1% of Pennsylvania’s 676 confirmed cases occurred in someone who had been vaccinated.
Despite Pennsylvania’s outbreak being widely reported as the country’s largest active one, Pennsylvania had not requested a CDC Epi-Aid deployment — a team of epidemiologists for on-the-ground support — as of the most recent reporting reviewed, even though the agency said it had repeatedly offered one. Other states dealing with 2026 outbreaks — including Texas, South Carolina, Virginia, Kansas, New Mexico and Wisconsin — have accepted that kind of federal help. Pennsylvania officials have not publicly explained why they have not requested it.
Sources and further reading
- Measles Cases and Outbreaks
- Department of Health Provides Statewide Update on Measles Outbreak as Cases Reach 676 in 37 Counties
- Pennsylvania Department of Health Confirms Two Measles-Associated Deaths
- Measles
- Measles-related deaths in Pennsylvania mark first 2 US fatalities this year
- Lancaster County coroner says measles caused second infant death as US cases soar past 3,100
- cidrap.umn.edu