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Dr. Barry Adams still remembers a late-night house call to a home in Hull where a three-year-old girl had a high fever. Adams quickly diagnosed the girl with measles, which was endemic in those days.

He tried to make her more comfortable and to cool her down. Just as he was preparing to leave, the mother, who lived alone with her daughter, had a seizure. Adams remained at the home until 3 a.m. watching over both of them and waiting until the mother was able to care for her sick child.

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To anyone who has never experienced it, red measles is a disease like no other. Adams, 85, saw plenty of it during 49 years as a pediatrician in Ottawa.

“Measles is ten times worse than the flu,” he said. “Children are very sick with it. You can just see in their eyes that they are suffering.”

When he started in medicine, in 1965, measles was common. Adams would see four to five cases a week in his office between September and April. Those children had some of the highest fevers he ever saw in his practice.