ST. PETERSBURG -- Doctors are monitoring a measles outbreak in Florida, with one case in Polk and nine cases in Broward County since the start of the year. The Polk County infection involves an adult in his 20s.
Dr. Juan Dumois with Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg, says the outbreak is directly connected to children and adults who haven't gotten the vaccine. Dumois says the immunity rate among small children is less than the ideal of 95 percent. Dumois says a child with measles is so contagious that people walking by a classroom could get infected. He recommends keeping children with measles at home, in line with CDC guidelines.
About one in a thousand cases of measles can result in a brain infection or death. The nine Broward cases are tied to an elementary school and the Polk case involves an adult in their twenties.
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