The CDC is urging Americans to protect themselves against measles before traveling abroad this summer.

There are 1,125 confirmed cases of measles across 33 states. Sixty-two of those cases are reported to have come from travelers who were infected on airplanes.

Nearly each case involved international travel.


Caption: Travelers spoke with NBC 10’s John Perik. (WJAR)

“It horrifies me, it horrifies me,” said Joyce Coleman of Rehoboth, who was traveling on Monday. “Vaccines have been proven to be safe and measles have been eradicated, until this latest concept that perhaps we should not vaccinate at all.”

On Monday, NBC 10 spoke with Dr. Philip Chan, who specializes infectious diseases at Brown University. Chan said measles is one of the most highly contagious diseases.

“If there’s a room with 10 people in it, 9 out of 10 people might get measles,” said Chan. “I’m very concerned, measles isn’t something we’ve seen a lot of in recent years.”

Chan said symptoms include fever, cough, runny nose and red, watery eyes. He said crowed public areas are places where the disease can spread quickly, and urges everyone to get vaccinated.

“The vaccine is safe it’s effective,” said Dr. Chan. “I know that there’s been a lot of misinformation out there about the measles vaccine but we now have a wealth of data out there that now shows how effective it is.”

As of Monday, there are no recent cases of measles in Southern New England.

The closest is in Vermont.