Coroner says baby with measles in Pennsylvania died of a ruptured spleen

After the Pennsylvania Health Department announced Wednesday that one of the two people whose deaths in the state were associated with measles was an infant, the coroner involved in the case has said he does not consider measles to be the cause of death. The Lancaster County coroner, Dr. Stephen Diamantoni, said in an interview Wednesday evening that the baby died shortly after birth from an internal hemorrhage and “traumatic rupture” of the spleen. He said he found evidence of the measles virus in the infant’s lung tissue. It is still unclear whether measles played a role in the infant’s death. An infection can cause the spleen to enlarge — which raises the risk of rupture — but that could be difficult to detect in an autopsy after a rupture has occurred.