Curie Brief
Turn on cookies to sign in
Signing in saves your progress to your Curie account. We can only do that with cookies on — turn them on to continue.
News
The CDC has quietly switched how it counts measles deaths, now relying on long-term mortality data instead of real-time state reports — and experts aren't happy about it. Pennsylvania has reported four measles-associated deaths in 2026, including two infants and two adults, but the CDC's website shows zero. Critics say the new method is designed for tracking trends, not active outbreaks.
The CDC has changed how it tracks measles deaths, shifting from state-reported data through the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System to figures from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) — a system designed for long-term mortality trends, not real-time outbreak monitoring. The result? A glaring disconnect: Pennsylvania has officially reported four measles-associated deaths in 2026, yet the CDC's website shows zero.
The four Pennsylvania deaths include two infants, a 40-year-old woman with an active measles infection alongside severe asthma and COPD, and an unvaccinated 18-year-old. A Jefferson County coroner confirmed the woman's active measles infection at the time of death, while Mifflin County confirmed the teen's death. The CDC website does list three measles deaths for 2025.
By the Numbers:
Why it matters: Accurate, real-time death tracking is critical during an active outbreak. Experts warn that using long-term mortality data to count infectious disease deaths creates dangerous blind spots, potentially obscuring the true toll of measles and undermining public health responses.
