“However, the recent deaths have led to a war of words over how measles deaths are counted. The CDC only counts two measles death on its dashboard, but notes that “this number is subject to change; CDC will update its reporting as additional information becomes available and relevant reviews are completed.””
Pennsylvania tallies a fifth death related to measles as outbreak approaches a thousand casescnn.com
Five deaths in Pennsylvania, two on the CDC dashboard. Neither number is made up. They answer different questions, and almost nobody is saying which.
“Pennsylvania’s Health Department considers a death to be “measles associated” if the person died within 30 days of showing symptoms and testing positive for the virus. It can also take into account people’s medical records and whether they were exposed to measles before they died. The CDC’s website says it is working with the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists to “develop a standardized case definition for deaths due to measles.””
CDC reports first measles death amid confusion over Pennsylvania casesnbcnews.com
Here’s the state’s definition, from NBC last week. Died within 30 days of symptoms and a positive test, with records and exposure history allowed in. That’s a surveillance definition: fast, inclusive, built to be revised. The CDC’s first posted death was one its National Center for Health Statistics verified with measles listed as an underlying cause. A newborn whose mother had measles in pregnancy could fit one and not the other. And the CDC says there isn’t a standard case definition for measles deaths yet.
“The CDC has reported one death from measles so far this year but did not say where the death occurred.”
Pennsylvania surpasses 900 measles cases with 13 new confirmed infections: Officialsabcnews.com
The federal number also moved in a week. On Monday ABC had the CDC at one death, place unstated. By Wednesday CNN had it at two. Quote the dashboard with a date on it.
“Death from measles occurs in one to three patients out of every 1,000 cases, which suggests that the Pennsylvania outbreak may be significantly larger than officially reported case counts suggest.”
Pennsylvania tallies a fifth death related to measles as outbreak approaches a thousand cases· cnn.comThe line I’d want people to sit with. Five deaths against 943 reported cases is about 5 per 1,000, above that usual range. A death is hard to miss. A mild case in an adult who never saw a doctor is easy to miss. If one of these numbers is undercounted, I’d bet on the cases.
