TAMPA, Fla. — Four Florida counties, including one in Tampa Bay, could be at a high risk for a measles outbreak this year.
The prediction for an outbreak comes from a new analysis that looks at vaccine exception rates and international traveler numbers.
Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin and Johns Hopkins University ranked Hillsborough County No. 17 on the list of counties across the U.S that were at the highest risk of a measles outbreak.
Miami-Dade ranked third, Broward County ranked seventh and Orange County ranked 14th.
This year there have been more than 760 cases in 23 states, with two of them in Florida, according to the Orlando Sentinel. That is the highest number of measles cases in the U.S. in 25 years.
The vaccination rates in Florida are still above 90 percent, but health experts are still worried about the growing number of parents who don’t want to vaccine their kids, the Sentinel reports.
Florida’s religious exemption rate is 3 percent, but certain areas of the state spike up to 30 percent, according to the Florida Department of Health.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said vaccination is the best way to prevent the spread of measles.
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