Miami.- Measles outbreaks in Florida universities, the fourth state with the most cases in the United States, alerted authorities after a year in which the country had the highest number of infections since 1991, although the disease had been considered eradicated in 2000.
Ave Maria University reported
at least 20 cases in the south of the state, while the
University of Florida, in the north, reported two sick people, although the figure could be higher because the state Department of Health (DOH) is still tracking contacts and other possible infections.
“The Florida Department of Health in Collier County is providing additional resources to monitor suspected measles cases and minimize further transmissions. DOH-Collier is working closely with officials from Ave Maria University,” explained this agency in a notice.
A Johns Hopkins University count places Florida in 2026 as the fourth state with the most confirmed cases of measles nationwide, but warns of underreporting because only 17 have been reported, behind South Carolina (548), Utah (48) and Arizona (34).
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) counted 733 cases so far in 2026, which already represents, in less than a month and a half, almost a third of the 2,276 cases in all of 2025, when there was a record number of infections since 1991.
Although the disease had been eradicated in the United States in the year 2000, infections skyrocketed due to the decline in vaccinations in the face of “misinformation”, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).
In fact, more than 9 out of 10 patients, 95%, are not vaccinated, according to the CDC.
The University of Florida told its students that if they did not have contact with infected people, “there is no reason to believe they are in danger,” as well as assuring that “the vast majority of students, professors, and workers are immune” to the disease because they were vaccinated or infected before.
The cases in Florida are reported in a context of debate, after the state’s surgeon general, Joseph Ladapo, announced last September that the governor, Republican Ron DeSantis, would work to eliminate vaccination mandates established by state legislation.
