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You have seen the headlines, you have read the comments and you have watched the construction of hysteria.
Dr. Monika Naus, Medical Director, Communicable Disease and Immunization Services, B.Sc. Center for Disease Control, explains the big problem.
"There is no treatment for measles, so if you catch measles, it's your own body that needs to cure you," Naus said.
Measles is a virus, so antibiotics do not work. According to Naus, the most modern medicine can help you heal, but your body must fight the infection itself.
"If your lungs are filled with measles virus and you have respiratory failure, you can be under artificial ventilation," Naus said. "If you have a brain infection caused by measles … they can give you steroids to reduce swelling – but it's up to you to treat yourself."
Measles is a highly contagious virus that is transmitted by air, making it much easier to contract.
"You do not need direct contact. It is not necessary to share spit, kissing, sharing – it's airy, so it's much more contagious. "
Because measles can spread so easily in susceptible populations, it can cause an extremely high number of cases.
"When you have a large number of cases, you end up with a high number of cases of complications," said Naus.
Measles can infect any part of the body and a serious infection occurs when the virus spreads to a person's lungs or brain.
According to Naus, there is some question about the severity of measles, but according to North American data, about one in every 300 cases would be fatal.
In 1996, Canada adopted the goal of eliminating measles as part of the Pan American Health Organization as it was increasingly recognized that the elimination of measles was workable.
"We receive imported cases, sometimes a visitor or a Canadian returning from overseas and most of the time, there is no transmission if the people around them are vaccinated", said Naus. "If they go into a group of people with sensitive people, that's when we see the transmission."
According to Naus, measles remains a major problem worldwide, especially when children suffer from malnutrition and few treatments, the virus still kills hundreds of thousands of children around the world.
Naus said that if it was possible to eliminate measles, the public needed to be vaccinated and the disease would not spread.
"There are people who believe that general health, eating nutritious food and exercising is enough," said Naus. "Yes, all of these things help your immune system but they do not give you specific immunity."
The recent outbreak was limited to a small group of schools in Vancouver and, according to Naus, no cases have been reported since Valentine's Day.
"The measles incubation period of up to 21 days, we will not know if there will be additional cases until around March 7," said Naus.
For more information on how to get vaccinated against the measles virus, visit immunizebc.ca/finder
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