Pennsylvania reports 2 measles-associated deaths, its first in 35 years, as coroner disputes infant case

The conflicting findings have pulled state officials and the Trump administration into a fight over how the infant’s death should be classified.

NBC News and NPR report that the two Lancaster County cases are Pennsylvania’s first measles-associated deaths in 35 years—since 1991. Both residents were unvaccinated, and one was an infant; the available reports do not give the other resident’s age, immediate cause of death or other circumstances. CDC mortality rules assign one underlying cause—the condition that began the chain leading to death—and separately record other contributing conditions. Pennsylvania’s “associated” label therefore does not itself say measles was the infant’s underlying cause: the county coroner assigned that role to a traumatic spleen rupture despite finding measles virus in lung tissue, while state Health Secretary Dr. Debra Bogen kept the case in the measles-associated count after review. The Atlantic reports that HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other Trump officials questioned the state’s classification.