A warning about the risk of measles was issued by the New York State Department of Health in October after an international traveler from Israel who was infected with the disease visited many places in New York City -- potentially exposing people everywhere the traveler went. A measles vaccine offers protection against the highly contagious and sometimes deadly viral disease, explains Jana Shaw, MD, a pediatric infectious disease expert at Upstate. She discusses the symptoms of measles, how it spreads, and why this disease is a concern more than 50 years after introduction of a vaccine.