U.S. measles cases approach 3,700 as Pennsylvania outbreak intensifies
Federal data show nearly 3,700 measles cases in the United States this year, with Pennsylvania accounting for a significant share and reporting four deaths linked to the disease.
The United States has recorded 3,659 confirmed measles cases this year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Pennsylvania alone reported 129 new cases in the past week, raising its total to 890, with exposures traced to the Philadelphia International Airport and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
State health officials have documented four measles-related deaths in Pennsylvania, including a 40-year-old woman, an 18-year-old who suffered a rare neurological complication, and two infants, one of whom was a newborn with a spleen injury. The CDC’s website lists a single death, which it says has been verified by the National Center for Health Statistics.
"CDC is also working with the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists to develop a standardized case definition for deaths due to measles," the Department of Health and Human Services said in an email to The Independent.
The Department of Health and Human Services’ secretary indicated that the CDC would update death-count data in early September, a shift from its previous practice of revising figures after state notifications.
Health experts note that this is the most active measles year since the 1990s, with 40 outbreaks reported nationwide and 95 percent of cases linked to unvaccinated individuals. The two-dose measles-mumps-rubella vaccine is estimated to be 97 percent effective, but vaccine hesitancy has contributed to lower immunization rates, facilitating transmission of the highly contagious virus.