Authorities in Pennsylvania, a state in the eastern U.S., confirmed yesterday, Wednesday, the fifth death linked to the measles outbreak in the country, an outbreak that has reached levels the country hasn’t seen in 35 years.
The person who died had not been vaccinated against this serious and highly contagious disease and lived in Lancaster County, the state Department of Health reported, without going into further detail.
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That county is known to be home to a large Amish community—traditionalist Christians—whose vaccination rate is much lower than that of the general population.
Measles had been declared eliminated in the U.S. in the 2000s, thanks to vaccination, but it has been making a strong comeback in recent years due to declining vaccination rates and growing distrust among a segment of the population toward health authorities. A phenomenon in which President Donald Trump’s Health Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is accused of playing a significant role.
Well known for his skepticism toward vaccines, the current secretary has repeatedly spread misinformation about the measles vaccine and downplayed the danger of the disease. He has also implied that some of the deaths from the current outbreak were not caused by the disease.
Health authorities in Pennsylvania have attributed four deaths to measles since August: two infants, too young to have been vaccinated, an 18-year-old, and a 40-year-old.
Since the beginning of 2026, more than 3,650 cases of the disease have been laboratory-confirmed in the U.S., including more than 900 in Pennsylvania. These are the highest numbers since 1991.
Measles causes symptoms such as high fever, respiratory distress, and a rash, and in some cases, it can lead to more serious complications, such as pneumonia and encephalitis, with potentially life-threatening consequences, including death.
Before a vaccine was developed in the early 1960s, measles killed hundreds of children every year in the U.S. Even today, it continues to claim tens of thousands of lives worldwide each year.
Source: Proto Thema
