The United States is approaching 3,700 confirmed measles cases this year, with Pennsylvania at the centre of a rapidly expanding outbreak. According to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 3,659 cases have been reported nationwide, and the state’s total has climbed to 890.
In Pennsylvania, 129 new cases were recorded over the past seven days, according to the state health department’s dashboard. Possible exposures have been traced to the Philadelphia International Airport and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, indicating that the virus is spreading in key public venues.
While the CDC lists only one death on its website, Pennsylvania has reported four measles‑associated deaths. The fatalities include a 40‑year‑old woman with an active infection, an 18‑year‑old who suffered a rare neurological complication, and two infants—one a newborn who sustained a spleen laceration.
The CDC has announced that it will update its death counts as additional information becomes available and that it is working with the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists to develop a standardized case definition for measles deaths. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the agency will pull updated death data in early September, a departure from its usual practice of updating only after state notifications.
This year’s surge is the most active since the 1990s, before measles was declared eliminated from the U.S. in 2000. Forty outbreaks have been reported nationwide, with 95 % of confirmed cases linked to outbreaks in 2025 or 2026. The majority of cases, including all Pennsylvania deaths, have occurred in unvaccinated individuals. Two doses of the measles‑mumps‑rubella vaccine provide 97 % protection against infection, but vaccine hesitancy and misinformation have contributed to falling childhood vaccination rates. Measles spreads easily through airborne droplets that can linger for up to two hours or contaminate surfaces, and symptoms typically appear within a week or two after exposure.
<small>Source: Yahoo News — read the original story there.</small>