Measles is alarmingly contagious: It’s spread through the air and can linger in a room for up to two hours after an infected person has left. The disease is responsible for more than a hundred thousand deaths each year among unvaccinated people.

What’s more, danger still lurks even for those who survive an outbreak.

Measles not only weakens your immune system in the short term, bouts with the virus seem to wipe your immune system's memory, causing the body to forget how to fight off things that you may have already conquered. For some people, this so-called immune amnesia may linger for months to years after an infection.

Now, a pair of studies published in Science and Science Immunology digs into the specific