Measles cases outpacing 2025 rate

As of April 18, there have been 131 confirmed cases of measles in Florida, with one confirmed case in Miami-Dade County, according to the latest available data from the Florida Department of Health.

The airborne virus is considered highly contagious; symptoms include a high fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes and rash. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the MMR vaccine to protect against measles, mumps and rubella. Two doses of the MMR vaccine are 97% effective against measles and 86% effective against mumps, according to the CDC.

Of the confirmed measles cases in the state this year, a frequency report from the Florida Department of Health shows 93 were reported in Collier County, where an outbreak was linked to Ave Maria University.

The CDC reported that as of April 23, 1,792 measles cases had been confirmed nationwide – more than half the 2,288 cases reported in 2025, the highest annual total since the disease was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000.

Dr. Gordon Dickinson, an infectious disease specialist who works as a without compensation physician at Miami Veterans Affairs Healthcare System, said a contributing factor is changing attitudes toward vaccines.

“Then, over the last decade, several things have happened,” he said. “One, the vaccine has been successful; it really works. It’s 90-plus percent effective in preventing the infection, so measles basically disappeared in the United States, occurring only occasionally when a child from an area where there still is measles travels to the United States, and then it’s occurred here, but there’s been growing concern about the safety and the need for the vaccine.”

Community immunity, also known as herd immunity, for measles requires 95% of a population to be inoculated. Florida’s kindergarten population was reported to be 88.8% inoculated during the 2024-2025 school year, according to the CDC.

“And by the way, measles becomes contagious about four days before the rash appears, so you just know your kid’s got a cold or something, and you have a little cough and little red eyes, maybe, and fever,” Mr. Dickinson said. “That’s basically what all upper respiratory tract infections give you, so you may not realize that you’ve got measles, but you’re highly contagious during that stage, and then after you develop the rash, contagion goes way down after about four days, and your body kicks in and really tamps it down for the healthy people.”

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