Two unvaccinated individuals have died of measles in Pennsylvania, state health officials announced on Tuesday. The deaths are the first in the state in 35 years and have been announced just one day after Maryland declared a measles outbreak in three counties.
Measles is one of the most contagious diseases known to medicine, and is preventable with a highly effective vaccine.
“My deepest sympathies are with the loved ones who are facing this unimaginable loss,” said the Pennsylvania secretary of health, Dr Debra Bogen, in a statement. “Because measles was largely eliminated in the Commonwealth for more than three decades, people are not familiar with this disease and don’t fully understand the potential severity of the illness.”
Measles kills one to three people for every 1,000 it infects, and can lead to short- and long-term health problems, including pneumonia and brain swelling. Up to 20% of infected people will be hospitalized.
“As a physician, I want to make sure that people understand that the [measles, mumps and rubella] vaccine is safe and provides the best protection we have against measles,” said Bogen, referring to what clinicians call the MMR vaccine.
On Monday, Maryland declared a measles outbreak in St Mary’s, Carroll and Cecil counties. There are 31 confirmed cases in the state. New York urged residents to get vaccinated on Monday, citing an uptick in cases in rural parts of the state around the capital, central and western regions.
“The overall risk remains low if you are fully vaccinated,” said Maryland’s health department secretary, Dr Meena Seshamani, in a statement. “We ask that Marylanders join us in our effort to help keep our youngest safe and protect those who are most at risk. Checking your vaccination status and getting vaccinated if you are not up-to-date is the simplest and most effective way to do that.”
The news comes just one week after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released data showing the largest ever one-year increase in requests for vaccine exemptions – the process by which parents can request not to have their child vaccinated and still send them to school. The same data showed a long, slow decline in vaccination rates, particularly for measles.
The news also comes after Donald Trump and his health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, held a press conference in which they linked vaccines to autism, a decades-old claim from the anti-vaccine movement that has been repeatedly debunked by scientific studies.
Pennsylvania state officials said both individuals who died from measles were residents of Lancaster county. No further information was released.
The state has counted nearly 400 cases across 28 counties in Pennsylvania, nearly half of which are in southern Lancaster county. Most of the cases reported to state health authorities are in adults between 18 and 49. Official tallies are typically an undercount of actual cases.
