Overview
- Jefferson County Coroner Greg Furlong said a 40-year-old unvaccinated woman died from complications linked to measles on Sept. 12, and the office is working with the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
- Pennsylvania officials treat this as the state's third measles-associated death in 2026 as the outbreak has reached about 676 confirmed cases and 124 hospitalizations across 37 counties.
- The CDC has not added any 2026 measles deaths to national mortality records and said it had not been formally notified of the Jefferson County case, while offering Epi-Aid support that Pennsylvania has not formally requested.
- State health officials use an epidemiological definition of a 'measles-associated death' that counts deaths when measles is detected or epidemiologically linked even if the virus is not listed as the legal cause of death, a difference that helps explain count discrepancies with federal records.
- Public-health officials say nearly all confirmed cases are in unvaccinated people, two doses of MMR are about 97% effective, and the state is expanding vaccination clinics and outreach to slow spread and protect vulnerable people such as infants and those with chronic lung disease.