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Media Advisory
Thursday, April 18, 2019
In 2000, measles was reported as being eliminated in the United States, while no prolonged transmission of the virus had been observed in this country for more than 12 months. Today, however, the United States and many other countries that have eliminated the disease are experiencing measles outbreaks as a result of reduced measles immunization coverage. Without a renewed interest in measles immunization, the disease could rebound fully, according to a new commentary in the report. New England Journal of Medicine by infectious disease experts from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, and the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center of the College of Medicine at Penn State University of Medicine.
Measles is an extremely contagious disease transmitted by respiratory droplets and aerosolized particles that can remain in the air for up to two hours. Most often in young children, the disease is characterized by fever, malaise, nasal congestion, conjunctivitis, cough, and a red, spotted skin rash. Most people with measles recover without complications in a week. However, for infants, immunodeficient people and other vulnerable populations, the consequences of a measles infection can be serious. Rare complications can occur, including pneumonia, encephalitis, other secondary infections, blindness and even death. Before the measles vaccine was developed, the disease killed between two and three million people each year worldwide. Today, measles causes more than 100,000 deaths worldwide each year.
Measles can be prevented with a vaccine that is both highly effective and safe. Each complication and death associated with measles is a "preventable tragedy that could have been prevented by vaccination," write the authors. Some people are reluctant to vaccinate their children because of widespread misinformation about the vaccine. For example, they may be concerned that the vaccine increases their child's risk of autism, a lie based on fraudulent and discredited demand. A very small number of people have valid medical contraindications to measles vaccine, such as some immunodeficiencies, but almost everyone can be safely vaccinated.
When immunization coverage levels decline, the weakened protection provided by collective immunity – indirect protection obtained when a sufficiently high percentage of the community is immunized against the disease – places unvaccinated young children and immunocompromised individuals over risk. This can have disastrous consequences with measles. The authors describe a case in which a single child with measles infected another 23 children in a pediatric oncology clinic, with a 21% mortality rate.
If vaccination rates continue to decline, measles outbreaks could become even more common, a prospect that the authors describe as "alarming". This is particularly disconcerting, they note, because measles is one of the most easily preventable infectious diseases. In fact, it is possible to eliminate and even eradicate the disease. However, they say, achieving this goal will require collective action by parents and health professionals.
article
CI Paules, HD Marston and AS Fauci. Measles in 2019: in decline. New England Journal of Medicine. DOI: 10.1056 / NEJMp1905099 (2019)
who
NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., is available to discuss this article.
Contact
To schedule interviews, please contact Elizabeth Deatrick at (301) 402-1663, [email protected].
NIAID conducts and supports research – at NIH, in the United States, and around the world – to investigate the causes of infectious and immune-mediated diseases and to develop better ways to prevent, diagnose and treat these diseases. NIAID press releases, fact sheets and other documents are available on the NIAID website.
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH):
The NIH, the country's medical research agency, has 27 institutes and centers and is part of the US Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the lead federal agency that leads and supports basic, clinical and translational medical research. She studies causes, treatments and cures for common and rare diseases. For more information on NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
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