WESTON, Fla. – Officials with Broward County Public Schools announced a fifth confirmed measles case at an elementary school in Weston Monday.
The additional case at Manatee Bay Elementary School, located at 19200 Manatee Isles Drive, adds to the four reported since Friday.
The Florida Department of Health is working to track down the origin of the case cluster.
“The District is maintaining close coordination with the Health Department to address this ongoing situation,” John J. Sullivan, a BCPS spokesperson, said in a statement Monday. “Over the weekend, the District took further preventive measures by conducting a deep cleaning of the school premises and replacing its air filters.”
Sullivan said the school’s principal is “actively communicating with families, ensuring they are kept up to date with the latest information.”
Experts are encouraging parents to keep an eye out for signs of the highly-infectious illness.
While two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine are required to attend Florida public schools, parents can seek religious or medical exemptions. The South Florida cases come amid a worldwide surge in cases as vaccination rates decline.
For Dr. Chad Sanborn, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at South Florida-based KIDZ Medical Services, it’s a frustrating development.
“There is the possibility that this can spread to the point that it’s no longer eradicated in the United States,” Sanborn said. “Even mild cases of measles, the kids are often pretty sick. So more than a common cold, more than even chicken pox in many cases.”
Sanborn said parents — especially if their children are unvaccinated — should keep an eye out for the initial symptoms: congestion, red eyes and a cough. A measles rash appears three to five days after the initial infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Most children will pass the virus without any treatment, but a small portion will develop complications like pneumonia.
“Three people out of every thousand people who acquire the virus will not survive from that,” Sanborn said.
Other complications, according to the CDC, include encephalitis, or swelling of the brain. The public health agency says about 1 child in every 1,000 who contract the measles will get encephalitis, which “can lead to convulsions and can leave the child deaf or with intellectual disability.”
Sanborn also explained that in a small percentage of cases, a case of the measles can lead to neurological complications five to 10 years after the initial infection.
The MMR vaccine is highly effective and most children who received it will remain immune and can go about their normal routines.