Leukemia patient dies in Pennsylvania's largest measles outbreak

A 20-year-old Amish woman receiving chemotherapy for leukemia died two weeks after being hospitalized for measles-related double pneumonia, the latest fatality in Pennsylvania's largest measles outbreak in decades. The woman, the second oldest of nine siblings, contracted the virus as it spread through her unvaccinated household in Lancaster County.

Her grandmother said the patient asked her doctor for a measles vaccine, but was denied because the live-attenuated vaccine is contraindicated for patients undergoing chemotherapy. After the infection, she experienced a high fever, severe breathing difficulty and was admitted to Hershey Medical Center, where she was placed on a ventilator before the family elected to discontinue life-support measures.

State health officials confirmed the fifth measles-related death but provided no personal details due to privacy laws. All five deaths in the outbreak involved unvaccinated individuals, including two Amish infants and adults with underlying health conditions.

Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, noted that measles can cause severe lung infection and that the current wave reflects a growing cohort of unvaccinated adults who are now at risk.

The family, which does not oppose vaccination but views it as a personal choice, relied on home remedies and extra fluids before seeking emergency care. They buried the woman on a family farm, and more than 300 community members attended the funeral.