Is measles spreading in Florida? Hard to know. State's disease-tracking data no longer available

Yahoo

09-05-2025

Do you want to know how many measles cases have been confirmed in your county this year? How about whether the recent tuberculosis case reported at a high school is confined to one school or spreading throughout South Florida?
Florida Department of Health surveillance data, which previously made public the number of current cases of each vaccine-preventable disease by county, has been removed from the state website. State and local health officials did not respond to numerous requests for an explanation or point to another location on the state's health department website where the information is available to the general public. The last time that chart was available was in March after a Miami Palmetto Senior High School student was diagnosed with measles, becoming the first case in Florida in 2025.
The chart containing current trends for communicable diseases had long been relied upon by epidemiologists and medical professionals for tracking, and included up-to-date information on outbreaks in Florida, including monkeypox and Hepatitis A. Awareness of the spread of both diseases, at the time, led to a vaccination effort and a public health response to curb the outbreaks.
'It's important for clinicians and families to know when something is spreading for which we have a prevention,' said Aileen Marty, an expert in infectious disease with Florida International University's Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine. 'Having good and timely information makes a huge difference in diagnosing a case earlier and helping parents make decisions or take action.'
While the real-time case reporting of diseases no longer exists, the Florida Department of Health does offer a monthly report through March of total cases in the state of four out of more than 50 communicable diseases. For diseases like measles, leprosy or monkeypox, the county-level data on the state website is available only through 2023.
Parents must now rely on their child's school to inform them of a confirmed case of measles or another vaccine-preventable disease. Schools are required to send a notification letter to parents of students and staff who may have been exposed. This letter typically includes information about the outbreak, what parents should do if their children are not vaccinated, and how to contact the health department for further guidance.
Of course, diseases like measles are not limited to children, so relying on schools to inform the community doesn't protect adults who may not have children, or those who live in neighborhoods with school-age children with whom they interact regularly. Laws protecting health information prevent medical professionals from sharing information with the community as well.
'We are keeping people in the dark. They no longer have the ability to know that a disease is circulating,' Marty said. 'It's not just about prevention. The earlier you diagnose something makes a difference.'
Measles has been particularly problematic this year: The U.S. is on track to surpass 1,000 measles cases in 30 jurisdictions as the viral illness — once so rare that most young doctors don't recognize the symptomatic rash — makes a comeback. Three children have died this year from the disease. Along with the Miami case reported in a high schooler this year, Florida had an outbreak of nine cases in Broward County in February 2024.
The lack of publicly available surveillance information in Florida comes as fewer children are getting vaccinated.
In the 2023-24 school year, only 88.1% of Florida kindergartners completed required vaccines that protect against severe illnesses, including measles, polio and chickenpox, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Public health experts recommend a vaccination rate of at least 95% for highly contagious diseases like measles to maintain community-wide immunity.
Florida's is one of the lowest rates in the nation. Many students use religious exemptions to opt out of the mandatory vaccinations required to attend public school.
New information posted on the Florida Department of Health website notes: 'Communities with a higher proportion of religious exemptions to vaccination are at increased risk of vaccine-preventable disease transmission.' The website also says: 'The proportion of children age 5-17 years with new religious exemptions are increasing each month.'
'There's been a dismantling of a lot of the Department of Health websites and people who are working on them,' said Jennifer Takagishi, professor of pediatrics and division chief of General Academic Pediatrics at the University of South Florida. 'The number of the employees has decreased significantly, so data tracking is becoming much more difficult.'
Takagishi said the lack of information makes it challenging for pediatricians. 'We end up playing catch-up after a child contracts a vaccine-preventable illness, and then we start looking at who else is vulnerable and start offering vaccines,' she said.
If available, real-time surveillance would help pediatricians to allow parents to make informed decisions. 'If we know measles is in the community and make families aware of it, they realize, 'Oh, this is something that can actually happen to my child or my family,' and then they might be more willing to get the vaccine,' Takagishi said.
The CDC has also removed some health data from its website. Earlier this year, President Donald Trump signed executive orders instructing federal health agencies to take down certain data sets and information on adolescent health, infectious diseases, reproductive care, and HIV, as well as references to unconscious bias and diversity, equity, and inclusion. Researchers and clinicians spoke out, stating they had lost access to critical data and information they need to study, treat, and prevent diseases. A federal judge ordered some of the information to be restored.
The CDC is tracking measles cases by state, but its surveillance offers only that Florida has between one and nine cases this year.
In the last month, a Fort Lauderdale high school and Miami's federal detention center have each confirmed an active case of tuberculosis, a deadly but treatable infectious disease. The Florida Department of Health said tuberculosis testing would be offered to students and school staff who were identified as possibly having close contact with the individual. But whether there are more cases in South Florida is unknown. Florida recorded 681 cases of TB in 2024, about 9% more than the previous year, federal data shows. Tuberculosis case numbers for 2025 are not on federal or state websites.
'What's happening is there's a downstream effect,' Takagishi said. 'Families don't have the data, physicians don't have the data, and the health systems don't have the data that they need to really keep our community safe.'
South Florida Sun Sentinel health reporter Cindy Goodman can be reached at [e-mail].