A 39-year-old unvaccinated woman in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, has become the sixth person to die of the highly infectious virus amid a state outbreak that has stricken over a thousand people since it began in April.
The woman died on Saturday, October 10. She had several underlying health conditions and had recently tested positive for measles, according to an advisory posted on social media by Franklin County Coroner Jordan Conner. The advisory noted that the woman’s death meets the definition of a measles death set by the state’s health department.
In an emailed statement to The Washington Post, the coroner’s office said the primary cause of death was listed as “probable acute cardiac event due to possible complications of the measles.”
The previous five deaths amid the state’s measles outbreak included a newborn, a 6-week-old, an 18-year-old, a 20-year-old, and a 40-year-old. All the deceased were unvaccinated; the two infants were too young to have been vaccinated.
As of the latest measles update from Pennsylvania’s health department on Friday, October 9, there have been 1,136 cases in the state since the start of the year—1,124 of which are from the current outbreak. Overall, 218 people have been hospitalized. The outbreak, which now spans 41 of the state’s 67 counties, shows no signs of slowing. There had been 157 new cases reported just in the previous week.
A spokesperson for the state health department told the Post that it is “aware” of the new death and is reviewing the case. It will provide an update once the review is complete.
Measles, declared eliminated in the US in 2000, is roaring back amid misinformation and slipping vaccination rates. The nationwide measles case count for the year has hit 4,080, the highest total since 1991. Pennsylvania’s outbreak is also the largest on record since that year. The US is widely expected to lose its measles elimination status when experts from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) meet in November to review US measles data.
Under anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has only included two of the six deaths so far in its reporting. There were three measles deaths reported in the US in 2025. Prior to those deaths, there had not been a measles death reported in the country since 2015.
Beth MoleSenior Health Reporter
Beth MoleSenior Health Reporter
Beth is Ars Technica’s Senior Health Reporter. Beth has a Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and attended the Science Communication program at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She specializes in covering infectious diseases, public health, and microbes.
Source: arstechnica.com
