Duke Health

Measles cases and exposure have been reported at several locations in the Triangle. It’s important that you check your measles vaccination status to ensure it is up to date.

Measles is a highly contagious virus that spreads through the air when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or breathes. If you were in a location with someone known to have measles, you may have been exposed, and you may be contagious before symptoms appear.

While there have been no cases of measles reported at any Duke Health locations, Duke Infection Prevention is doing everything it can to monitor the situation and minimize the public health risk. Here, Ibukun C. Kalu, MD, a specialist in pediatric infectious disease at Duke Health, answers frequently asked questions.

We all have damaged cells, and our body has robust, built-in systems to detect and destroy damaged or mutated cells before they grow into tumors. Cancer vaccines promote that response and encourage the immune system to go after and destroy cancer cells. 

As part of our ongoing Conversations in Cancer video series, Dr. Diane Reidy Lagunes, a medical oncologist at Duke Health, talks to Dr. Zachary Hartman, a researcher with the Duke Cancer Institute, about cancer vaccines, what they are, how they work, and what’s on the horizon.

Emily DePetris was diagnosed with liver disease over a decade ago. In 2024, she underwent a liver transplant at Duke Health and is amazed at how good she feels now. These days, DePetris helps families make decisions about organ donation when their loved ones are at the end of life. “There isn’t a day that I don’t push myself to do better, be better, because I was given this amazing second chance at life,” she said.