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A disease that many thought we had eradicated — at least in our part of the world — is making a comeback in parts of the United States and abroad. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in the decade before 1963 when a vaccine became available, nearly all children got measles by the time they were 15 years old.

But since the vaccine was developed and was refined to the current version, widespread vaccinations have drastically reduced disease rates and measles was declared eliminated from the United States in 2000. However, the spread of misinformation about side effects incorrectly attributed to the vaccine has resulted in a resurgence of measles cases.

We talked to Dr. Paul Cook, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at ECU’s Brody School of Medicine, to help set the record straight and to learn what people in our area need to know.

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Originaly published Aug. 13, 2019.