Pennsylvania Confirms Third Measles Death as Unvaccinated Woman, 40, Dies in Jefferson County

A 40-year-old unvaccinated woman from Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, died on Saturday, September 12, 2026, from complications associated with measles, the Jefferson County Coroner's Office confirmed. Coroner Greg Furlong told NPR that the woman had not been vaccinated. Her death is the third measles-associated fatality reported in Pennsylvania this year and the first outside Lancaster County, which has been the center of the state's outbreak.

Measles is one of the most infectious diseases known to medicine. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared the virus eliminated from the United States in 2000, a status that depended on sustained vaccination coverage rather than on luck. Two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, known as MMR, provide about 97 percent protection. In recent years, however, kindergarten vaccination rates have slipped, and the country is now managing its largest outbreak in decades.

The Pennsylvania outbreak has been growing since late April. The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 676 confirmed cases across 37 of the state's 67 counties as of September 11, along with 124 hospitalizations. Lancaster County remains the epicenter, and the outbreak has also been concentrated in Mifflin County, where large farming communities live. The CDC's national count stood at 3,294 confirmed cases as of September 10, the largest United States total since 1991.

Behind the numbers sits a dispute over how deaths should be counted. After Governor Josh Shapiro announced the state's first two measles deaths, both in infants in Lancaster County, US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said on X that the announcement appeared to have been premature and may even have been altogether fabricated by one of the Governor's hopeful staffers, according to NPR. The CDC said it was reviewing whether to count the two infant deaths, while Pennsylvania officials have counted both as measles-associated.

Key Facts

NPR reported on September 13 that Furlong confirmed the woman's death and said she was unvaccinated. The coroner's office called the loss a heartbreaking one for the family and an unfortunate reminder that measles can be a serious and potentially life-threatening disease. Officials have not released the woman's identity but said she was a resident of Jefferson County.

CNN reported on September 13 that the woman contracted measles after a family member had it as well, and that she also had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, and asthma, and had been on supplemental oxygen 24 hours a day before she was infected. Medical Daily reported on September 14 that her death certificate lists acute on chronic hypoxemic and hypercapnic respiratory failure caused by suspected measles, with COPD, asthma and supplemental oxygen dependence as contributing conditions.

WTAE reported on September 14 that the Jefferson County coroner confirmed the county's first measles-related death, and that the woman died on Saturday, September 12. The coroner's office said it is working with the Pennsylvania Department of Health on the case. Chief Deputy Coroner and Public Relations Officer Jason Stiver said measles is highly contagious and can result in serious respiratory illness, hospitalization and, in rare cases like this one, death.

A counting question remains. Medical Daily reported on September 14 that family members told the coroner the woman declined testing for measles before she died, even though she had been exposed to several people with confirmed and unconfirmed cases and had developed a rash and fever several days before her death. Because there is no positive laboratory test, the death does not currently meet the state's definition of a measles-associated death, which requires clinical evidence of infection plus a positive lab result. The Pennsylvania Department of Health said it is reviewing the case and has not issued its own determination.

Pennsylvania recorded just 16 measles cases in all of 2025. State health officials have administered nearly 4,300 MMR doses at 130 pop-up clinics since the outbreak began in late April, and providers gave more than 46,000 MMR doses in August versus a typical 25,000 per month. Measles typically hospitalizes about one in five unvaccinated people and kills one to three of every 1,000 children infected. CNN reported on September 13 that 108 cases had been added in the week before September 11.

Analysis

The bigger picture here is that Pennsylvania now has three measles-associated deaths in a single year, a toll that would have seemed implausible a decade ago and that no other state has matched in 2026. Two of those deaths were infants in Lancaster County, and one was a 40-year-old woman in Jefferson County. That age spread is the core of the story: measles is not only a pediatric problem, and adults with underlying lung disease have far less margin when a respiratory infection arrives.

The second thread is jurisdictional. The death was confirmed by a county coroner, not by the state health department, and the state's own tally has not yet absorbed it. Whether the case enters the official count depends on a definition that requires both clinical evidence and a positive laboratory test, a standard the woman's family declined to satisfy before she died. The result is a fatality that is real to a coroner and, for now, provisional to the state.

Federal and state officials have already clashed over the existing deaths. Kennedy's public suggestion that the governor's announcement had been premature, and NPR's account that he said the deaths may even have been altogether fabricated, put the credibility of the count itself into contention. The CDC, under newly confirmed director Dr. Erica Schwartz, said it had not been notified by Pennsylvania officials of the new death. Schwartz said that despite repeated offers of assistance, Pennsylvania has not requested a CDC Epi-Aid, while Texas, South Carolina, Virginia, Kansas, New Mexico and Wisconsin have requested federal support. The Guardian reported on September 13 that Kennedy asked the CDC to exclude Pennsylvania's two measles deaths from its tally and later acknowledged that the CDC waited for the evidence.

None of that changes the arithmetic of transmission. A 35-year high in national cases, with about 95 percent of them linked to outbreaks, and a state count approaching 700 cases are not artifacts of a counting dispute. They are the product of gaps in immunity in communities where the virus can move quickly. What this really means is that the argument over the ledger is a distraction from the measure that actually stops measles, which is vaccination.

Why It Matters

Measles was declared eliminated from the United States in 2000, and that status rested on vaccination coverage. The CDC has recently released data showing a steady decline in kindergarten vaccination rates, including for MMR. The Guardian reported on September 13 that experts blamed the decline on the success of the vaccine itself and on confusion caused by Kennedy, the health secretary and a longtime vaccine skeptic.

For a disease that hospitalizes about one in five unvaccinated people and kills one to three of every 1,000 children it infects, small declines in coverage translate into large increases in exposure. Pennsylvania's response shows what that looks like in practice: nearly 4,300 MMR doses delivered at 130 pop-up clinics, and more than 46,000 doses given by providers in August alone against a typical 25,000 per month.

The human detail in this case is instructive as well. The woman had COPD and asthma and relied on supplemental oxygen around the clock before she was infected, and she caught measles from a family member. Stiver said that while cases of severe illness remain uncommon, the tragedy highlights that measles should not be taken lightly.

Next Up

The Pennsylvania Department of Health is reviewing the Jefferson County case and has not issued its own determination on whether it meets the state's definition of a measles-associated death. The CDC, which said it had not been notified of the death, is still weighing whether to include the two Lancaster County infant deaths in its national tally. State health officials have counted both.

Meanwhile, the outbreak continues. Cases stood at 676 confirmed across 37 counties as of September 11, with 124 hospitalizations, and Pennsylvania and South Carolina have the highest numbers of confirmed cases in the country, according to federal data. With kindergarten vaccination rates still sliding and the national count at 3,294 as of September 10, the next state update will show whether the spread is slowing or whether another county joins Jefferson County in reporting a death.