With measles cases popping up in several states across the country, some North Carolina doctors are encouraging people to get vaccinated to prevent the contagious disease’s spread.
Right now, officials at the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services report no known cases in North Carolina. There was one travel-related measles case last year.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there have been more than 160 cases this year in the U.S. in nine states: Texas, Alaska, California, Georgia, Kentucky, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York City, and Rhode Island. A child in Texas who had not been vaccinated died of measles last week, the Associated Press reported.
Dr. Tony Moody, a professor of pediatrics at Duke University who specializes in infectious diseases, said that measles belongs to the same family as some common respiratory illnesses, but it is highly contagious.
“The biggest thing is vaccination,” he said. “(The) vaccine is highly effective, and the severity of the disease and the fact that it’s so contagious is the reason that we created a vaccine for it in the first place.”
Common symptoms of measles include cough, high fever and conjunctivitis, also known as pink eye. Measles was declared dormant by the CDC in 2000, which meant the disease did not spread continuously for over a year.
“The good thing about measles, and the reason that you don’t have to think about it that often, is because the vaccine is extremely effective,” said Dr. Zach Willis, a pediatric infectious diseases physician at UNC Children’s Hospital. “It’s 97% effective, so 97% of people who get the recommended measles vaccine cannot get measles.”
