The highly contagious measles virus continues to spread around the globe. In 2018, cases surged to an estimated 10 million worldwide, with 140,000 deaths, a 58% increase since 2016. In rich countries, scattered measles outbreaks are fuelled by people refusing to vaccinate their children. But in poor countries, the problems are health systems so broken and underfunded that it is nigh-on impossible to deliver the vaccine to people who need it. The DRC’s flood of cases shows why measles will keep flaring up despite efforts to control it. And the situation will only worsen with the COVID-19 pandemic: more than 20 countries have already suspended measles vaccination campaigns as healthcare workers scramble to deal with coronavirus

In poor countries, measles is a killer, especially in combination with malnutrition and vitamin A deficiency. Estimates are uncertain, but the death rate in developing countries hovers around 3–6%, and it can spike as high as 30% in the worst outbreaks, according to the WHO. Its victims often die of complications including pneumonia or diarrhoea and dehydration. Those who recover can be left with permanent disabilities, including blindness, hearing loss and brain damage. The virus also impairs the immune system for months or years after infection, creating “immune amnesia” that leaves children vulnerable to other infections.

The virus is so contagious that few unvaccinated people who come into contact with it are spared its effects. Scientists define infectiousness using the ‘reproduction number’ — how many people, on average, would be infected by a single person with the virus, in a population that has no immunity. For Ebola, that number is estimated at 1.5–2.5. The new coronavirus terrifying the world seems to be somewhere between 2 and 3. Measles tops the charts with a reproduction number of 12–18, which makes it the most contagious virus known. You don’t need to be in the same room as an infected person to catch the virus — it is spread by respiratory droplets that can linger in the air for hours.

People were still fighting tooth and nail to be exempt from vaccination mandates even in the midst of those outbreaks. And the vaccine(s) involved have been around since the 1960s.

Robert

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Re: Measles is making a big comeback - rgG - 09-21-2021

I had the regular measles when I was about five. I got very sick. I had a temp of 104° before the fever finally broke.
I had rubella a few year after that. This was before there was an MMR vaccine.

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Re: Measles is making a big comeback - deckeda - 09-21-2021

We're predisposed to fear of what we cannot see, so it's easy to fear cures more than diseases. We can thank Andrew Wakefield for our current turn in the barrel.

Children need parents. Adults apparently do as well.

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Re: Measles is making a big comeback - SteveG - 09-21-2021

The measles 'endemic' was clustered on one community who were subjected to ignorant propaganda similar to what we see elsewhere nowadays.
I believe I had posted about it at the time.

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Re: Measles is making a big comeback - raz - 09-21-2021

Despite my loathing for Medical Insurance Companies, I'm at the point where I think they should be allowed to deny coverage for any disease for which the sufferer did not get vaccinated (unless there is a medical reason for it).

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Re: Measles is making a big comeback - NewtonMP2100 - 09-21-2021

....and so are pron'staches......

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Re: Measles is making a big comeback - space-time - 09-21-2021

raz wrote:
Despite my loathing for Medical Insurance Companies, I'm at the point where I think they should be allowed to deny coverage for any disease for which the sufferer did not get vaccinated (unless there is a medical reason for it).

Add tobacco to the list and you got my vote.

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Re: Measles is making a big comeback - ztirffritz - 09-21-2021

https://www.vaccinestoday.eu/stories/what-is-r0/

Smallpox has an R0 of 3
Polio has an R0 of 4-6
Mumps has an R0 of 10-12
Chickenpox has an R0 of 10-12
Pertussis has an R0 of 15-17
Measles has an R0 of 16-18

This explains why measles elimination requires such a high level of immunity in the population. WHO and national health experts say two doses of measles-containing vaccines (MMR or MMRV) for 95% of the population are needed to stop the spread of the disease. In the absence of high uptake of the vaccine, even in small pockets of the community, outbreaks will occur.

If you're in an enclosed space with someone contagious with Measles and you aren't vaccinated, odds are you will contract it. Every Measles infection will infect 16-18 more people on average assuming no one is vaccinated.

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Re: Measles is making a big comeback - Lizabeth - 09-21-2021

I remember getting the MMR again when I was a high school volleyball ref - the county was having an outbreak of measles back then.

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