A Pennsylvania coroner confirmed Wednesday that the state's two measles-related deaths last month both involved infants, and that the virus caused one of the deaths.
Dr. Stephen Diamantoni, Lancaster County’s coroner, said Ivan Miller died Aug. 14 shortly after his birth of a ruptured spleen, and 6-week-old Mary Stoltzfus died Aug. 18 at her home from a measles infection, according to the Associated Press
and The Washington Post.A genetic birth defect called Amish lethal microcephaly, which causes a small head and underdeveloped brain, left Stoltzfus highly vulnerable to an infection, he explained to the outlets.
Diamantoni said he released the information in response to a state right-to-know law request by WPMT-TV, Fox 43.
USA TODAY reached out
to the coroner's office for comment.
Diamantoni’s office didn’t perform an autopsy on Stoltzfus, so the cause of death was determined by her doctors, he told the AP.
Diamantoni’s office did autopsy Miller, and determined that he died of a ruptured spleen. While Miller was infected with measles − which is listed on the death certificate as a contributing factor − Diamantoni said measles did not contribute to what happened to the spleen, and that the virus is noted only because it was considered “a significant condition” at the time of death.
Neither was old enough to be vaccinated, as the first dose is typically given around age 1.
The political divide over measles deaths
These deaths have come under national scrutiny and political debate.
Last month, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. asked for the two deaths reported by Pennsylvania’s health department to be removed from the CDC’s national tally of measles cases, questioning whether the virus was the cause. CDC staffers had already accepted the state’s characterization of the deaths as linked to measles before Kennedy's request.
Last week, Kennedy acknowledged that measles caused the recent death of one Pennsylvania infant, citing information from the county coroner, but suggested that the federal government would not yet recognize the fatality in official data amid a fast-growing national outbreak.
Public health experts said the move amounted to extraordinary political interference in the authority of a state health department and an effort to minimize the risks of the highly infectious virus.
Measles cases hit highest level in more than 30 years
U.S. measles cases have hit their highest level in more than three decades under President Donald Trump and Kennedy, his top health official and a long-time vaccine skeptic. Kennedy has promoted the idea that vaccines, including the combined measles, mumps and rubella shot, are more dangerous than the diseases they prevent, despite decades of scientific evidence that the shots save lives.
Leading medical organizations say that Kennedy’s statements about vaccines and his policies as health secretary, including efforts to reduce the number of government-recommended childhood immunizations, have increased vaccine hesitancy, making outbreaks harder to curb.
Contributing: Reuters
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Coroner shares details on 2 infant deaths amid Pennsylvania measles outbreak
