 The measles outbreak was declared over recently after no new cases were diagnosed in the previous 42 days. While a majority of the cases were in counties surrounding the Twin Cities, the outbreak did make its way to Crowing County and Brainerd with four cases of measles. The outbreak also brought the vaccination debate to the forefront, and health officials in the Brainerd area say that the increased awareness in vaccinations led to the end of the outbreak. I think that all of the efforts across the state, you know, here in Crowing County, especially down in the Twin Cities, the Minnesota Department of Health, all of that, you know, increased awareness of the importance of the measles-mumps-rebella vaccine and making it more available to people, getting the word out about how important it was really helped put an end to the outbreak that we had and helped get some of those unimmunized people immunized so that they were not at risk then to contract measles. The measles outbreak affected 79 people in Minnesota with a majority coming from Hennepin County and the large Somali-American population there. If you've enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland Public Television.