NewsDialy

Pennsylvania measles deaths become a public dispute as coroner and federal officials raise questions

9/1/2026

A public dispute over two reported measles deaths in Pennsylvania has drawn in a county coroner, state health officials, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and a federal cabinet secretary, all presenting conflicting accounts of what the evidence shows.

Pennsylvania health officials use the term "measles-associated death" when laboratory or epidemiological evidence links the virus to a fatality, even if a coroner identifies a separate immediate cause of death.

Both individuals were unvaccinated, the Pennsylvania Department of Health confirmed, and these were the state's first measles-related deaths in 35 years.

Stephen Diamantoni found that the newborn died shortly after birth from a lacerated spleen and had tested positive for measles acquired before birth.