Today in Pennsylvania, Lancaster County Coroner Stephen Diamantoni, MD, confirmed that the county’s second measles infant death, which he initially called “measles associated,” was caused by the highly contagious virus. The county is the site of a rapidly growing measles outbreak.

Earlier this week, Diamantoni confirmed that measles was detected in a child who had died a few weeks ago. When the Pennsylvania Department of Health confirmed two measles-related deaths last week, it provided little information on the patients, including their ages.

Diamantoni has said that the death of the first infant in Lancaster County was not from measles; he attributed it to a ruptured spleen. Measles virus was detected in the boy’s body. He was born to a measles-infected mother on August 14 and died shortly after birth.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) currently does not include either death in its 2026 measles fatality count.

At a press briefing today, Diamantoni said the second death involved an Amish girl who was born in July and died on August 18. She had a rare genetic neurologic disorder called Amish lethal microcephaly characterized by abnormally small head size and an underdeveloped brain. She was immediately admitted to palliative care at a hospital. It’s unknown whether the infant was infected with measles before or after birth.

Microencephaly may portend short life

Microcephaly occurs in about one of every 500 births in the Amish population but is very rare outside of that community, Diamantoni said. 

“Those children are sick from birth and actually are placed on palliative care from the time of birth,” he said. “They typically only live 5 or 6 months of age and the majority of those children die as a result of a respiratory infection of any kind, because their brain is very small and they don’t have the capacity to fight those infections well.”