A measles outbreak in Collier County has reached 12 confirmed cases.
This outbreak joins ones already existing and growing in Texas and South Carolina with hundreds of cases. Those outbreaks are a threat to the United States keeping its measles-free status.
Starting Jan. 29, measles cases began showing up at Ave Maria University.
Anthony Musingo, a physician's assistant at the Mater Dei clinic in Ave Maria in Collier County, confirmed that those cases came through the clinic, and that all 12 are students at the university.
He said that three of the patients were taken to the hospital, treated, and released.
The first two cases in the outbreak were identified last Thursday, and nine more cases appeared over the weekend. The spread now appears to have slowed down, And Musingo added that there is no evidence that the disease has spread outside the university.
The clinic has an outdoor testing station where those experiencing cough, runny nose, watery eyes, or a rash can get tested there. Musingo said that Ave Maria University is doing its own testing.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, measles is a highly contagious disease that can lead to serious complications; symptoms usually begin 7 to 14 days after infection; measles can be dangerous, especially for babies and young children; measles can live for up to 2 hours in an airspace after an infected person leaves an area.
Musingo advises avoiding crowded places until the outbreak is over.
The best way to avoid measles is to get vaccinated before symptoms appear.
The Ave Maria outbreak comes as international health officials plan to meet in a few months to reevaluate the United States' measles-free status.
Measles elimination status is granted — and taken away — by a special verification commission set up by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). It reviews extensive evidence to determine whether the outbreaks in the U.S. are all part of a continuous chain of transmission that began with the outbreak in Texas in January 2025. Gathering the necessary epidemiological data, genomic analyses and surveillance reports takes time.
Experts fear the vaccine-preventable virus has regained a foothold and that the U.S. may soon follow Canada in losing the achievement of having eliminated it.
But even if PAHO determines that the outbreaks are separate, the U.S. could still lose its elimination status if it fails to prove that it can interrupt the spread of measles quickly and consistently, says Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, an infectious disease specialist and former top official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). And so far, he says, the U.S. is failing on this front.
"We do not have the capability to actually control measles, whether or not this is demonstrated through continuous measles transmission for 12 months," Daskalakis said in a press briefing last month. "So I'm going to say that elimination is already lost."
The evaluation comes a year after a West Texas measles outbreak began. Scientists are investigating whether multiple U.S. outbreaks are linked.
In Texas, officially, 762 people fell ill, most of them in rural Gaines County, and two children died. Many more got sick and were never diagnosed: 182 potential measles cases among children in Gaines County went unconfirmed in March 2025 alone, state health officials said, a possible undercount of 44% in that county.
But regardless of the U.S. elimination status, doctors and scientists say the country has a measles problem. At the April meeting, international health officials also would review Mexico's measles-free status. Its measles outbreak is connected to last year's Texas outbreak.
There is also a measles outbreak in South Carolina that is showing little sign of slowing down. The state has confirmed 847 cases since the first case was reported in October, making the outbreak bigger than the one in Texas, which started just over a year ago.
Dr. Linda Bell, South Carolina's state epidemiologist, points out that in Texas, measles cases grew over the course of seven months, while in South Carolina it has taken just 16 weeks to surpass the Texas case count.
"This is a milestone that we have reached in a relatively short period of time, very unfortunately," she said at a press briefing last Wednesday. "And it's just disconcerting to consider what our final trajectory will look like for measles in South Carolina."
The state on Friday reported 58 new cases since Tuesday.
Last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed 2,242 measles cases across 44 states — the most since 1991 — and nearly 50 separate outbreaks.
The problem has been years in the making, as fewer kids get routine vaccines due to parental waivers, health care access issues and rampant disinformation. More recently, Trump administration health officials including Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have questioned and sown doubt about the established safety of vaccines at an unprecedented level while also defunding local efforts to improve vaccination rates.
"The most important thing that we can do is to make sure the people who aren't vaccinated get vaccinated," said Jennifer Nuzzo, director of Brown University's Pandemic Center. "We have not issued a clear enough message about that."
Avoiding measles
The CDCV said the best way to protect against measles is to get the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine. Children may get the measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella (MMRV) vaccine instead, which protects against chickenpox too.
Most people who are vaccinated with MMR & MMRV will be protected for life. Vaccines and high rates of vaccination have made these diseases much less common in the United States.
There are two vaccines that protect against measles, mumps, and rubella. Both MMR and MMRV vaccines may be given at the same time as other vaccines.
- MMR contains a combination of measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines.
- Two MMR vaccines are available for use in the United States: M-M-R II and PRIORIX. Both are recommended similarly and considered interchangeable.
- MMRV contains a combination of measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella (chickenpox) vaccines.
- The MMRV vaccine is only licensed for use in children who are 12 months through 12 years of age.
For more about this disease, check at https://www.cdc.gov/measles/signs-symptoms/index.html
Copyright 2026 WGCU
