U.S. records first 2 deaths from measles this year

WASHINGTON, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Two residents in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania died after being infected with measles, a highly contagious viral disease, local health officials announced Tuesday.

The deaths are the first from measles reported in the United States this year and the first in Pennsylvania in 35 years.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health confirmed that both individuals were unvaccinated residents of Lancaster County, where vaccination rates are lower than those of the general U.S. population.

As of Aug. 20, 2,777 confirmed measles cases were reported in the United States in 2026, according to the latest data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The reported measles cases this year have surpassed those of any single year since the disease was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000.