A second Lancaster County infant died from measles, Coroner Stephen Diamantoni said Friday, clarifying a case the Pennsylvania Department of Health had previously labeled only as “measles-associated.”
The baby girl also had Amish lethal microcephaly, was born in July, entered palliative care immediately and died about two months later; officials said it remains unclear whether she was born with measles or contracted it after birth.
An Aug. 14 infant death in the county was different: Diamantoni said a ruptured spleen, not measles, was the cause, though measles was listed on the newborn’s death certificate after maternal transmission.
Measles can cause pneumonia and brain swelling; about 20% of patients are hospitalized and roughly 1 to 3 per 1,000 cases are fatal.