Pennsylvania Measles Outbreak Kills 20-Year-Old Amish Woman With Leukemia, Raising Death Toll to 5
Updated
Updated · The Philadelphia Inquirer · Oct 3
Pennsylvania Measles Outbreak Kills 20-Year-Old Amish Woman With Leukemia, Raising Death Toll to 5
3 articles · Updated · The Philadelphia Inquirer · Oct 3
Summary
A 20-year-old Amish woman in Lancaster County died after measles led to double pneumonia and respiratory failure, making her the fifth reported death in Pennsylvania’s largest outbreak in three decades.
Leukemia and chemotherapy left her too immunocompromised to receive the live measles vaccine, even though she wanted it after the virus spread through her unvaccinated household.
Her family said she was first treated at home, then taken to Hershey Medical Center when her fever spiked and breathing worsened; she died about two weeks later in intensive care after relatives chose to stop ventilator support.
All five deaths involved unvaccinated people, either by choice or because they were too young for vaccination, and records indicate at least three of the fatalities were adults.
Health experts said the adult deaths reflect a growing risk as unvaccinated children age into adulthood, widening vulnerability in what is now the nation’s largest measles outbreak.
Beyond fatal pneumonia, how many survivors of this historic outbreak will face years of hidden danger from measles-induced immune amnesia?
Will Pennsylvania empower traditional midwives to administer vaccines as deadly outbreaks finally shift long-standing cultural attitudes in Amish communities?
How can immunocompromised patients survive when the communities surrounding them reject the very vaccines that create life-saving herd immunity?