The department reported the death to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention but declined to release further details, citing state privacy laws. The Montour County Coroner's Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The confirmation comes as officials are still investigating an eighth death reported by the Franklin County coroner last month. How the state identifies measles-associated deaths has drawn intense scrutiny since August, when officials announced Pennsylvania's first measles fatalities in three decades.

State health officials have largely withheld information about individual deaths beyond the patient's county of residence and vaccination status. Most other details have emerged through local coroners and right-to-know requests.

The CDC, under the leadership of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime anti-vaccine activist, has been slow to log measles deaths. As of Friday, the agency's dashboard acknowledged only six deaths nationally, without specifying where they occurred. New York and Wisconsin have also reported measles-associated deaths this year, both involving infants.

Montour County, located about 75 miles north of Harrisburg, has recorded four measles cases this year out of 1,542 statewide. While the overall outbreak continues, the pace of new infections has slowed in recent weeks. State officials reported 61 new cases in the past seven days.

But the virus is still finding new territory. Bucks County confirmed its first case of the year earlier this week in an individual who had traveled to a part of Central Pennsylvania where measles is circulating. Chester County has reported 96 cases as the virus spread along its western border with Lancaster County, which accounts for roughly one-third of the state's total cases. Health experts believe the official count significantly undercounts the true toll.

Nationally, measles cases are rising due to declining vaccination rates, putting the United States at risk of losing its measles elimination status from the World Health Organization. A regional division of the Pan American Health Organization reviewed evidence from recent outbreaks this week and is expected to announce its findings early next week. Losing that status would mean measles—considered eradicated in the U.S. since 2000—is once again spreading endemically from community to community.

There have been 5,412 confirmed measles cases nationally as of Thursday, more than double the total for all of 2025, according to the CDC.

Neighboring states are also on alert. Although New Jersey has not seen an outbreak this year, health officials on Friday warned residents about potential measles exposure at several locations in the northern part of the state over the past week. An out-of-state resident infected with measles attended LegionsCon, a convention for fans of the action figure company Four Horsemen Studios, at the Hanover Marriott in Whippany last weekend. The person also visited a Sonesta Simply Suites in Morris Plains, a Walgreens in Morristown, and the emergency department at Atlantic Health Morristown Medical Center.

The New Jersey Department of Health posted a list of locations and times of potential exposure on its website and urged anyone who believes they may have been exposed to call their local health department or medical provider before seeking care.

In a statement posted on Instagram, Four Horsemen Studios said the individual did not know they had been exposed to measles before attending the convention and showed no signs of illness beforehand. "Please know that NO attendees were admitted showing signs of any sickness," the company wrote. The person learned after the convention that a family member had tested positive for measles, and then tested positive themselves.

New Jersey has reported two measles cases this year, in April and October. Delaware, which saw no cases for a decade, has reported 25 cases this year, all in Kent County.