After HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Penn. Gov. Josh Shapiro sparred over whether two deaths were caused by measles, the state’s coroner confirmed to Lancaster Online a 6-week-old infant had died from measles in August.
The confirmation prompted HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to acknowledge Sept. 4 that measles killed the child, after weeks of questioning the state’s report of two measles deaths and asking the CDC to drop them from its national count.
Coroner Stephen Diamantoni, MD, said the girl, who died in August, was born with Amish lethal microcephaly, a rare genetic disorder that leaves children prone to fatal respiratory infections within months of birth, according to a Sept. 4 report from Lancaster Online. After reviewing her medical records, he determined measles — a respiratory infection — was the cause of death.
The clinic treating the child had not initially reported the death because it was not unexpected for the condition, Dr. Diamantoni said.
“The child did test positive for measles,” he said. “Measles is a respiratory infection and we know the life expectancy of these poor kids is very short.”
The ruling came with a distinction that has fueled the dispute. Dr. Diamantoni found measles was not the cause in a separate infant death his office reviewed — a newborn who tested positive but died of a ruptured spleen. It remains unconfirmed whether the 6-week-old was one of the two “measles-associated” deaths the state announced Aug. 25 — a term the health department uses when laboratory or epidemiologic evidence of measles is present even if the virus is not the immediate cause of death.
The fight escalated after new CDC Director Erica Schwartz, MD, directed staff to exclude the two deaths from the agency’s dashboard pending review, citing information that “does not establish whether measles caused or contributed to the deaths.”
Mr. Kennedy said the coroner’s findings vindicated that caution.
“The facts emerging now demonstrate why CDC waited for the evidence rather than allowing political grandstanding to dictate its reporting,” he wrote on social media, accusing Mr. Shapiro of politicizing the deaths “before the underlying causes had been established.”
Mr. Shapiro said Mr. Kennedy “chose to sow doubt, play politics, direct the CDC not to acknowledge these deaths, and even accuse me of fabricating these tragedies.”
In Pennsylvania, the outbreak has sickened 577 people and hospitalized 98, with a majority of cases centered in Lancaster County. Nationally, the CDC recorded 3,134 measles cases across 45 states as of Sept. 3, already above 2025’s full-year total of 2,289.
The CDC’s webpage on the measles outbreak reflects information as of Sept. 3 at 12 p.m. and was last updated Sept. 4.
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