Deadly Measles Returns — Officials Stunned

Illustration of measles virus particles with the word 'MEASLES' in bold — DEADLY MEASLES RETURNS

Two people in Pennsylvania have died after catching measles, the first such deaths in the state in 35 years.

Story Snapshot

The Pennsylvania Department of Health confirmed two measles deaths on August 25, both unvaccinated residents of Lancaster County.
These mark the first measles deaths in the United States in 2026 and the state’s first in 35 years.
Pennsylvania has logged 393 measles cases across 28 counties so far this year, the highest count since 1991.
Health officials continue to stress that nearly all confirmed cases involve unvaccinated individuals.

What Pennsylvania Health Officials Confirmed

The Pennsylvania Department of Health announced that two Lancaster County residents died from measles-related causes. Both were unvaccinated. Officials called these the state’s first measles deaths in 35 years.

The department did not release further personal details, citing privacy concerns. The announcement also marked the first measles deaths reported anywhere in the United States this year.

Two people have died in Pennsylvania from measles, the state health department said. Both were unvaccinated.

These are the first deaths related to measles within the state in 35 years and the first deaths reported this year in the U.S.

Read more: https://t.co/Vs2KNDIxWt pic.twitter.com/YnxDa1kyko

— ABC News (@ABC) August 25, 2026

The timing matters. Federal data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed zero measles deaths nationwide in 2026, prior to this report, compared with three deaths in 2025.

That means Pennsylvania’s tragedy broke a run of months without a single fatal case anywhere in the country, despite rising case counts nationally.

A Statewide Outbreak That Kept Growing

Pennsylvania’s measles numbers climbed steadily through 2026. In May, the state reported 32 cases, already the highest total since 1991.

By June, the count had grown to 84 cases, with 72 concentrated in the Lancaster-Lebanon region alone.

August brought the number to 393 across 28 counties, according to the New York Post’s reporting on the health department’s figures.

Hospitalizations rose alongside case counts. Local reporting in mid-August put the statewide hospitalization total at 62, with health officials noting that none of the infected had been fully vaccinated.

Earlier in the year, a separate outbreak tracker found 232 confirmed cases with the same vaccination pattern, and 38 hospitalizations, but zero deaths at that point. The two Lancaster County deaths broke that streak.

Why Vaccination Status Keeps Coming Up

Pennsylvania health officials have repeatedly pointed to one detail across nearly every update this year: the overwhelming majority of measles patients were unvaccinated.

State guidance from May found that of 23 total cases at the time, 22 involved people with no vaccination record.

That pattern held steady as the outbreak spread into new counties, including Clinton, Elk, and Warren.

Measles is not a mild childhood nuisance. The World Health Organization (WHO) describes it as a highly contagious airborne disease that can cause severe complications, including pneumonia and death, even though a safe and effective vaccine has existed for decades.

Globally, the WHO estimated 95,000 measles deaths in 2024, mostly among children who were unvaccinated or under-vaccinated.

That global death toll has actually fallen 88 percent since 2000, largely credited to widespread immunization campaigns.

The Bigger Picture Beyond Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania’s outbreak is not happening in isolation. Nationwide, the CDC counted 2,777 confirmed measles cases as of August 20, a sharp increase driven in part by declining childhood vaccination rates in communities across the country.

Pittsburgh reported its first measles case of the year in mid-August, adding to a growing list of Pennsylvania cities touched by the outbreak.

A review of national data found that no measles deaths had occurred anywhere in the United States in 2026 before this week, making the Lancaster County losses the first this year.

Health researchers have long documented why these outbreaks tend to hit hardest where vaccination rates drop.

A review published in a peer-reviewed medical journal found that pneumonia remains the most common cause of death following measles infection, and that vaccine hesitancy directly worsens mortality outcomes during outbreaks.

That research lines up with what Pennsylvania officials have observed firsthand this year: cases climbing in under-vaccinated pockets of the state, and now, finally, deaths following the same pattern.

The Shapiro administration has taken steps throughout the year to contain spread, including responding to potential exposures in Lancaster County as recently as mid-August.

Whether those efforts slow the outbreak’s momentum remains to be seen, but the underlying message from state health officials has not changed since the first cases appeared: vaccination remains the most reliable protection against a disease that public health officials thought had largely been beaten decades ago.