A third person has died of measles in the US, health officials say

Pennsylvania reports that a 40-year-old woman has died from Measles, which was declared eliminated in the US in 2000.A 40-year-old woman in the state of Pennsylvania has died of Measles, becoming the third person to die from a rare outbreak of the preventable disease in the United States.“This is a heartbreaking loss for the family and an unfortunate reminder that Measles can be a serious and potentially life-threatening disease,” Greg Furlong, the medical examiner for Jefferson County, about 230km (143 miles) northwest of Philadelphia, said in a statement posted online on Sunday.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Robert Kennedy Jr expels all 17 members of CDC vaccine panellist 2 of 3US health authorities dispute Pennsylvania’s Measles-related deathslist 3 of 3Two unvaccinated people die of Measles in US state of Pennsylvaniaend of listHealth officials did not identify the woman, but said she died of complications associated with Measles on Saturday.County officials warned residents that Measles is a highly contagious and potentially deadly disease, and urged them to “take appropriate steps to protect themselves and their families”.The Washington Post, citing Furlong, reported that the woman was unvaccinated.The state of Pennsylvania has also been the site of the other two Measles-related deaths to occur this year in the US, reported by authorities to have happened in August. Both were in Lancaster County, a largely rural, agriculture-dependent area home to a large Amish population, a conservative Christian population which has lower vaccination rates than other groups in the US. Those two deaths also involved unvaccinated people, according to state health authorities.There have been 3,294 cases of Measles in the US so far in 2026, according to the Centers for Disease Control, across more than 45 states.In 2025, there were 2,289 cases in the country and three deaths, according to the agency.