Pennsylvania health officials confirmed on Wednesday that one of the two people whose deaths the state described as measles-associated was a newborn, a detail the department withheld when it announced the deaths a day earlier. Both were unvaccinated Lancaster County residents, and the deaths were the first in the state in 35 years and the first in the United States tied to measles this year.
The disclosure landed alongside a direct disagreement over what the two deaths represent. Lancaster County Coroner Stephen Diamantoni told abc27 that no deaths attributed to measles have been referred to or investigated by his office. He said in an interview with The Philadelphia Inquirer that the newborn died shortly after birth from a laceration of the spleen, that measles antibodies were present in postmortem testing, and that the forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy did not consider the death measles-related. His investigation is ongoing. County Commissioner Josh Parsons said the coroner told him his office has recorded zero measles deaths and one death of a person who died with measles.
