Miami Palmetto High School measles outbreak still contained to one student

It’s just one student so far, but after what happened in Texas, with 159 cases of measles including the death of one unvaccinated child, it’s concerning when this serious disease crops up.

Miami-Dade County Public Schools will not identify the name, gender, or age of the Miami Palmetto Senior High School student who has contracted measles. Experts say there’s about a 97% chance that student is unvaccinated.

Even for the notoriously apathetic high school age group, a measles outbreak is serious enough to grab their attention.

"I thought it was just crazy, I didn’t really think measles would come all the way over here to Pinecrest," said senior Max Sotolongo.

"I was very shocked because I know that was a big Texas thing lately,” added junior Tav Dotanfuchs.

"I have nothing to worry about, mostly just worried about the people that aren’t vaccinated, some people don’t know if they’re vaccinated, their parents haven’t told them," sophomore Odeanis Rojas said.

The disease should always be taken seriously.

“This is the most contagious virus from human to human, there is no virus that’s more contagious and that’s very significant,” explained Florida International University's Dr. Aileen Marty, an infectious disease specialist.

Significant, Marty said, because if there’s an outbreak every person who is not vaccinated will likely get measles. The message, she says, is to make sure everyone in your family has had the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, commonly called the MMR.

“And it’s completely safe,” Marty said. “The rumors as to links to autism have been soundly disproven.”

“Everybody should definitely do what they need to do to prevent any measles in their body, I agree,” said Rachel Cohen, a Palmetto High parent.

The Florida Department of Health sent this letter to parents, reiterating the importance of the MMR vaccine and saying because of the high vaccination rate at the school, parents can decide whether or not to keep their kids home from school.

“I think measles is really scary and it’s a serious problem in this community right now,” said Talya Miller, a Palmetto High student.

Marty said measles was not a problem, it was essentially eradicated 25 years ago, until the anti-vax movement caused vaccination rates to drop.

“We were a country where it was eliminated, we no longer have that status and that’s very, very unfortunate,” Marty said.

Communities lose herd immunity when the MMR vaccination rates drop below 94%. We don’t know the vaccination rate at Palmetto High, we do know that most people get the MMR vaccine as children but there are enough unvaccinated people to allow outbreaks to occur.

Miami-Dade County Public Schools said in a statement that it's working closely with the health officials and taking precautions, including thorough cleansing and disinfecting.

The school district is coordinating with the health department to set up a free MMR vaccination day at Palmetto High in the next few days, a date has not yet been announced.