Coroner releases details of infants who died amid growing Pennsylvania measles outbreak

NEW YORK (AP) — The two measles-related deaths in Pennsylvania last month involved infants, and the virus itself caused one of the deaths, a Pennsylvania coroner confirmed Wednesday. Stephen Diamantoni, said he told the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of his conclusions. CDC officials, however, have not said whether they will count either death as measles-associated, and the agency’s website still carries a disclaimer about them.

14 shortly after his birth of a ruptured spleen, Diamantoni said. Mary Stoltzfus was 6 weeks old when she died Aug. She was born with a genetic birth defect that left her highly vulnerable to an infection.

A measles infection killed her, Diamantoni told The Associated Press. He said he was releasing the information in response to a state right-to-know law request by WPMT-TV, Fox 43. The causes of death differed Diamantoni’s office didn’t perform an autopsy on the girl.

The cause of death was determined by the doctors caring for her, he said. She had been born with a condition called Amish lethal microcephaly that causes an unusually small head and underdeveloped brain. Children with the condition typically live 6 months or less.

His office did autopsy the boy, and determined he died from a ruptured spleen. Exactly how and when that happened is still under investigation, Diamantoni said. The boy was infected with measles, which is listed on the death certificate as a contributing factor.

But Diamantoni said measles did not contribute to what happened to the spleen, and that measles is noted only because it was considered “a significant condition” that the boy had at the time of death. Neither was old enough to be vaccinated; the first dose is typically given at around 1 year of age. The deaths have received outsized attention Details of the deaths have come under unusual national scrutiny and became the focus of a furious political battle between Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor, Josh Shapiro, and officials in Republican President Donald Trump’s administration.