In Broward County, where cases of measles started appearing the second week of February, the health department reported a probable case of a child between the ages of 5 to 9 on Friday. The measles outbreak, which the World Health Organization defines as five or more cases contracted from having contact with somebody who is a confirmed case, spread in Manatee Bay Elementary School in Weston, just west of Fort Lauderdale.
The highly contagious disease has also been contracted by a Polk County resident between the ages of 20 to 24, according to the disease surveillance system data. The case appeared on the surveillance system on Sunday. Polk, which is in the central part of Florida, and Broward, are roughly 175 miles apart, but cases are assigned to Florida counties based on the person’s county of residence at the time of the disease identification, even if that’s not where they became ill. Officials have not said whether the Polk case is linked to the Broward outbreak.
If the probable case is confirmed, the total number of infections would be nine. Meanwhile, two people in Louisiana contracted measles last week, according to Florida Phoenix partner Louisiana Illuminator. As of Feb. 22, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 35 measles cases in 15 states and jurisdictions: Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York City, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington.
Last year, the health department reported two cases of measles in Florida (one in Miami-Dade County and another in Seminole County).
Despite the high contagiousness rate of the disease, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo sent a letter on Feb. 20 to parents stating that parents and guardians could decide whether or not to send their kids to school, citing “the high immunity rate in the community and the burden on families and the educational cost of healthy children missing school.”
In the letter, Ladapo also wrote that it is commonly recommended that those who haven’t contracted measles before and are not vaccinated should stay home for 21 days.
The CDC reported about 91 percent of Florida kindergartners for the 2022-23 school year had received the two required doses of the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine. A 95 percent or greater rate of two doses of the MMR vaccine is needed to create herd immunity, according to WHO.
Measles is a highly contagious airborne disease that can have serious health complications in children younger than five, according to the CDC. Symptoms of measles include:
- High fever
- Cough
- Runny nose
- Red, watery eyes
- Rash that appears 3-5 days after symptoms begin
Although someone with measles can infect up to 9 out of 10 people near them if they are not protected, the MMR vaccine is about 97 percent effective at preventing measles, according to the CDC.
This article was first published by the Florida Phoenix. You can read the original article here.
