The Washington State Department of Health has confirmed on Thursday that it is the first case of such death in U.S. since 2003.
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Officials said she did not show common measles symptoms so the infection was not discovered until after her death, which occurred in the spring.
The state health department said the woman from Clallam County, in northwestern Washington, was most likely exposed to measles at a medical facility during a recent outbreak in the area. Other information such as her age was not released to protect her identity, but they did say that she was not elderly. They could not confirm anything about her vaccination but she did have some health issues.
It was the 11th case of measles in Washington – and the sixth in Clallam County – this year, he said.
“We know that Washington state is a state with one of the highest percentages of religious and philosophical exemptions for vaccines in the country”, he said.
Measles is a highly contagious respiratory disease.
According to reports, while no one is sure of her immunization levels, tests did show she had measles anti-bodies in her system.
The ruling cause of death was pneumonia, but autopsy revealed the pneumonia was due to contracting measles.
Before the widespread use of a vaccine against measles, its incidence was so high that infection with measles was felt to be “as inevitable as death and taxes.”[7] Reported cases of measles in the United States fell from hundreds of thousands to tens of thousands per year following introduction of the vaccine in 1963.
The agency added that the woman was there at the same time as another person who turned out to have been contagious with the virus.
The officials said that the infected woman was hospitalised for various health conditions in an institution in Callam County.
President Barack Obama also urges people, especially parents, to have their children vaccinated, saying that “the science is pretty indisputable”, Washington Post reported. However, and they not however comment on whether she was vaccinated or not.
From January until May 29, 173 people in 21 states and the District of Columbia developed measles, and 117 of those cases were linked to Disneyland in Orange County, California, according to the CDC.
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It’s possible to develop measles within three weeks of exposure.
