Why the CDC is excluding measles deaths in Pennsylvania even as outbreak appears to be ‘accelerating’ – The Guardian

Why the CDC is excluding measles deaths in Pennsylvania even as outbreak appears to be ‘accelerating’  The GuardianPennsylvania Measles Outbreak Leads to an Increase in Vaccinations  The New York TimesMeasles outbreak in PA nears 800 cases as Department of Health urges vaccination  WNEP‘Babies are dying’: How Pennsylvania’s measles outbreak changed the vaccine mindset of this Amish country midwife  Times LeaderPennsylvania measles cases near 800 as outbreak grows  Reuters

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention refuses to count four measles deaths in the state though doctors are ‘seeing new forms’ of disease The US Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its measles dashboard on Friday – but it’s still not counting four measles deaths in Pennsylvania, where the outbreak appears to be accelerating and cases are appearing in ways providers have never seen before. Members of Congress on Monday requested an “immediate briefing” on the decision to change how measles deaths are reported as cases continue to rise throughout the United States, reaching levels not seen in decades.

A possible measles exposure was reported in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia last week. The delay in death reporting is “curious” even after the CDC switched how it counts deaths, said Debra Houry, former CDC chief medical officer. It takes one to two days for the CDC to receive updated data to the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) after states finish death investigations. “Pennsylvania concluded the investigation on the first two deaths, so CDC