Three new cases of measles have been confirmed in Florida, including one each in Hillsborough and Manatee counties, state data shows.

The Hillsborough case was in a person aged between 20 and 24 who was infected by the highly contagious disease in Florida this month, a Florida Department of Health database for infectious and reportable diseases shows.

The Manatee case was acquired outside the United States. It’s not known if they are connected or if any of those infected are higher-education students.

The third reported case was in St. Johns County. None of the three cases are in children.

Measles is highly contagious because of its airborne spread. An infected child in a classroom of unvaccinated children would result in an infection rate of about 90%.

Florida Department of Health officials said they cannot comment on ongoing epidemiological investigations and that details about specific cases and individuals are is confidential.

“When a communicable disease is reported in the county, the department immediately initiates an epidemiological investigation to protect the public’s health,” said spokesperson Katie Young in an email.

Infection typically results in acute illness and a rash of small red slightly raised spots. It can lead to high fever and complications including bronchitis and pneumonia.

Health officials said any individual experiencing measles symptoms should contact their health care provider or local county health department to receive instructions on how to safely seek medical attention.

The cases of the potentially fatal childhood disease come as Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo is pushing for the abolition of mandatory vaccinations, including measles, required to attend schools.

In a speech in September, Ladapo likened vaccine mandates as “slavery” and pledged to end them.

In December, the Department of Health took a step toward eliminating four vaccines required to attend school: Varicella, or chickenpox; Hepatitis B; Haemophilus influenzae type b, or Hib; and Pneumococcal conjugate, or PCV15/20.

Other vaccine mandates, including measles, polio and tetanus, are required by state law to attend school and would take action by state lawmakers to change.

Measles was declared abolished in the United States in 2000, an achievement that was considered a triumph of public health.

But outbreaks in several states in the past year has raised the prospect of the Pan American Health Organization revoking that status. The organization has invited the United States and Mexico to an April meeting to “review their measles elimination status.”

There have been 416 confirmed measles cases reported in the United States this year. More than 2,200 cases were reported in 2025, including seven in Florida.

Health officials in South Carolina are battling an outbreak of cases centered in Spartanburg County. Roughly 700 cases have been reported with 485 people quarantined.

George Rust, co-director of Florida State University’s Center for Medicine and Public Health, was the medical director for Leon County Health Department when two cases were confirmed in June. They were the first he had heard of in 40 years, he said.

Both infections came from the same household, said Rust, who led efforts to prevent further infections.

“Our nation had eliminated local transmission of measles over 20 years ago, and now we are losing that elimination status as waves of measles outbreaks continue to spread across the country, he said in an email.

Concern that Florida is vulnerable to an outbreak of diseases like measles has been heightened by a fall in childhood vaccination rates in recent years. The rate has fallen in part because of increased vaccine skepticism and a rise in the number of parents obtaining religious exemptions to shots for their children.

In Florida, the percentage of kindergartners vaccinated against childhood diseases fell from 94% in 2017 to 90% in 2023, according to state data. The vaccination rate for measles needs to be at 95% to prevent outbreaks, Rust said.

Rates may fall further if Florida eliminates school vaccine mandates, a move that Rust characterized as “irresponsible and dangerous.”

“Unfortunately, when it comes to vaccines, the current political leadership of (the Department of Health) in Florida is pushing an ideology of individual free choice unbalanced by community responsibility,” Rust said. “It gives people the freedom to endanger other people’s children and vulnerable Floridians. That’s not public health.”

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