Pennsylvania’s health department issued a health alert Monday as cases of measles in pregnancy and, in turn, cases of congenital measles have continued to increase. Before the current outbreak—which continues to rage across the state—congenital measles cases hadn’t been seen in decades, the department noted in its advisory.
The alert included detailed clinical guidance for managing measles exposures and cases during pregnancy as well as cases in newborns. Many doctors have never seen such cases in their careers given the decades of successful use of the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine. But now, with vaccination rates slipping nationwide, the highly infectious virus is better able to get footholds in communities and spread rapidly through under-vaccinated pockets, as is happening in Pennsylvania.
As of October 19, Pennsylvania had reported 1,286 measles cases this year across 42 counties. Of those, 247 have been hospitalized, and six people have reportedly died (though the latest reported death is still pending an investigation by the state health department before it is added to the state tally).
In a response to a request for comment, a spokesperson for Pennsylvania’s health department said officials have confirmed that 66 of the state’s measles cases were in pregnant women. The department does not keep a specific tally of congenital measles cases because the definition of these cases is not currently standardized. However, it noted that that it does track cases by age, and 157 cases have been recorded in children under the age of 4. At least one case of congenital measles led to a death; the first death reported in the current outbreak was in a newborn baby boy , who died immediately after birth while his mother was severely ill with measles.
