We have gotten more information about the 5th measles death in Pennsylvania.
“The headstone had not yet been placed Thursday on the freshly dug grave where a 20-year-old Amish woman was buried this week amid the rolling clover fields and dairy farms at the edge of suburban Philadelphia.
Newly wed, and receiving treatment for blood cancer, she was the last of nine siblings sickened when measles swept through her unvaccinated family’s home on a one-lane road in Lancaster County.”
A 20-year-old Amish woman with leukemia got measles and died in Pa.’s largest outbreak in three decades
An unvaccinated 20-year-old with leukemia who had just gotten married last year.
The 5th Measles Death Was a 20-Year-Old Newly Wed With Leukemia
She got sick a few weeks ago, and as she was getting worse, she went to the hospital.
“Her family does not operate cars, in keeping with Amish beliefs, so they hired a driver to take her to the emergency department at Hershey Medical Center about an hour away. She died about two weeks later in the intensive care unit there, her grandmother said.”
A 20-year-old Amish woman with leukemia got measles and died in Pa.’s largest outbreak in three decades
And she died.
“She said her granddaughter ultimately developed double pneumonia and died after the family decided to discontinue use of a ventilator.”
A 20-year-old Amish woman with leukemia got measles and died in Pa.’s largest outbreak in three decades
She died as she was being treated for leukemia and had wanted to get vaccinated.
“The young woman, the second oldest in a line of nine siblings, ages 6 to 22, feared getting measles in the outbreak in Lancaster County, her grandmother said.
About two years ago, she was diagnosed with leukemia, a blood cancer, and began medical treatment with the help of an “English” neighbor — as Amish call outsiders — to drive her to her medical appointments.
The treatment regimen of chemo and steroids further weakened her immune system. She knew she was at risk of more severe sickness from a viral infection like measles, which started spreading throughout her family in the late summer.”
A 20-year-old Amish woman with leukemia got measles and died in Pa.’s largest outbreak in three decades
But she couldn’t because of the chemo.
That doesn’t mean the rest of her family and friends could not have been vaccinated though.
Although no one in the household was vaccinated, they are not opposed to the vaccine based on Amish beliefs. They believe it’s an individual choice, she said, and many Amish people opt not to get vaccinated because they “don’t know what’s in it.”
A 20-year-old Amish woman with leukemia got measles and died in Pa.’s largest outbreak in three decades
That might have protected her and kept her from getting measles.