No patient zero found in Sarasota measles cases

SARASOTA — The Florida Department of Health says four children infected with measles were home-schooled and are being "self-isolated" to prevent the spread of the highly contagious virus.

G. Steve Huard, spokesman for the DOH in Sarasota, says a contact investigation was nearly complete when a news release warning the public was issued Tuesday.

"It was a prudent, best possible option to go out to the public and let everybody know we had some cases in the community," Huard said. "We don't believe we will see any more cases."

In Tuesday's statement, the DOH said it was working with community health care partners to identify and notify people who may have been exposed. The source of the recent outbreak has not been identified.

Unvaccinated individuals may be excluded from public places for up to 21 days, such as school and work.

Florida requires vaccinations to be administered to children before they enroll and attend child care and school, with exceptions made for religious and medical reasons only.

However, students home-schooled under state statute — the "home education program" — who do not attend a public or private institution are not required to get immunizations.

Huard said the four children with "close contact with each other" were not in public school. He could not disclose what part of the county they live in.

"The real issue is that we need everyone to know what happened," he said. "This is really a good opportunity to go get a vaccination if you're not already vaccinated — even one dose of the measles-mumps-rubella will give a level of protection more than people already have."

Residents and visitors who have not been immunized are urged to get vaccinated.

Huard says investigators examined the area where measles cases were reported to determine the risk assessment. No other patients have been located.

Most measles cases, according to Huard, are brought in from overseas from countries with different vaccination standards.

This year, in the United States, 220 measles cases have been reported to the Center for Disease Control as of Nov. 3; there were 120 cases reported in 2017.

Among Florida kindergartners, 93.7 percent are vaccinated, the CDC says.

"We believe the risk would be very low to the general public," he said. "However, out of an abundance of caution, it's important that people understand measles is a highly contagious disease. ... Our main message here is now is a good time."