Measles: the rate of infection in the world has increased by 30%

The rapid rise in the number of measles infections worries the World Health Organization (WHO). As announced today, in 2017, 31% more cases were reported worldwide compared to the previous year. In 2018, the number of cases in November was ten percent higher than in 2017. The initial goal was to eradicate measles by 2020. The WHO is skeptical about to know if it will succeed. The evolution of the situation in Germany is also worrying, explained WHO experts.

"There is no doubt that tremendous progress has been made since 2000," said Martin Friede of the Vaccinations Section of the WHO. With vaccination campaigns nationwide, the number of infections over the last 17 years has decreased by 85%. According to a new badysis, about 21 million lives have been saved.

"But we are victims of our own success," Friede said. Because many parents rarely see measles cases in countries like Germany, they may underestimate the danger and become reckless. "Measles is a very contagious disease, sometimes fatal, with many complications," warns Ann Lindstrand, vaccine expert at WHO.

Germany misses its goals

In Germany too, the number of measles cases has increased significantly compared to 2016. In 2017, 929 cases of measles were reported, compared with 325 in 2016. This means that Germany is not one of the 37 countries on the 53 that counted the European Region of WHO and who managed to eliminate measles in 2017. This goal is considered achieved if less than one human per million inhabitants is permanently infected by the virus all over the country. According to this definition, there should be only 82 cases per year in Germany.

According to the report, 173,330 cases of measles were reported worldwide in 2017, compared with 132,328 in 2016. The WHO estimates that only a small proportion of the increase can be explained by improved surveillance of the disease. disease. In addition, only a fraction of cases are reported. According to a calculation model, the actual number of sick people would be 6.7 million in 2017. According to this calculation, about 110,000 people worldwide died from the disease during the same period.

The underestimated disease of childhood

Measles is extremely contagious. The viruses are transmitted when you talk, cough or sneeze through small droplets in the air. The disease is initially badociated with flu-like symptoms and then a characteristic rash. The infection greatly weakens the immune system, so other infections are common.

A dreaded episode is encephalitis, measles encephalitis, which can lead to fatal or permanent injury. As a result of late infection with measles, so-called subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) may develop after years, inflammation of the nerve cells of the brain and spinal cord. This leads to loss of brain function and eventually death.

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