{"id":159655,"date":"2026-02-18T11:30:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T11:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/159655\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T11:30:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T11:30:08","slug":"it-can-affect-anybody-duval-county-sees-6th-recorded-case-of-measles-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/159655\/","title":{"rendered":"‘It can affect anybody’: Duval County sees 6th recorded case of measles in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Experts say the highly contagious disease can lead to other serious illnesses and can also be fatal.<\/p>\n

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Jacksonville health leaders are sounding the alarm about a measles outbreak after recording the 6th case in Duval County<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At local parks across the area, some parents say they are growing concerned as cases continue to rise.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do have small concerns,” said Rahszay Jasper, a local mother. “[My kids] are exposed to other kids pretty much on a weekly basis, but I’m not like fearful for their lives or anything like that.”<\/p>\n

Jasper and two of her friends homeschool their children and regularly meet up during the day. Some of their children are vaccinated against measles, while others are not.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy 16-year-old probably has it, my younger two, my 7 and 8-year-old, don\u2019t cause they\u2019ve never been in school,\u201d said mom Brittani Lee.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy older two have because they\u2019ve been in school, my younger two don’t because they haven\u2019t been in school so it\u2019s not like required for them,\u201d Jasper said.<\/p>\n

Doctors say the virus is highly contagious and can affect people of any age if they are not immune and that parents should know the signs of measles regardless of vaccination status.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the child does get ill, you look for risk factors. That would be international travel, exposure to someone who you know has measles, or the constellation of symptoms,\u201d said Dr. Mark Toney, vice president of medical affairs at Wolfson Children’s Hospital.<\/p>\n

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a>, measles symptoms can include a rash, fever, cough, runny nose and itchy eyes. Anyone of any age can be impacted.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can affect anybody. If you don’t have immunity from any of those sources and you are exposed to someone who is in the contagious period of measles, you would have a 90% chance of contracting the illness,\u201d Toney said.<\/p>\n

Dr. Toney says the contagious period lasts about a week. Immunity can come from prior infection or through the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, commonly known as the MMR vaccine.<\/p>\n

Dr. Toney said while he supports patient autonomy in medical decisions, if you have questions about whether or not you have immunity to the measles, a simple blood test can be ordered from your physician.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Every parent wants the best for their child,” said Dr. Toney. “Go seek out an appointment and have the open conversation with your trusted medical professional regarding concerns you have, if there are some regarding the safety and efficacy of the vaccine. Then, with all the information you gather, decide on the care of your child.”<\/p>\n

According to the CDC, a measles outbreak is defined as three or more cases that are related.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Experts say the highly contagious disease can lead to other serious illnesses and can also be fatal. JACKSONVILLE,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":159656,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":{"0":"post-159655","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-jacksonville","9":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","10":"tag-jacksonville-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}