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PEORIA – The measles epidemic has not yet arrived in Peoria … for the moment.
Two cases have been reported in Champaign-Urbana in recent months – the first in January and the second in early February. Both cases involved unvaccinated students. According to the CDC, there are currently 110 cases across the country. Washington State, home to a very active group of anti-vaccine activists, is the one with the most problems. There are now so many cases that the governor has declared the state of emergency.
"The problem with measles is that it is very contagious," said Dana DeShon, nurse practitioner at OSF Healthcare Morton Health Center. "You're contagious before you know you have measles. First, you have flu-like symptoms, then you get a rash.
According to the CDC, measles is transmissible for four full days before the appearance of the characteristic rash. It is spread by respiratory droplets that can remain in the environment and infect the others two hours after the departure of the host.
In 20 years of practice, DeShon has never seen a case of measles and she hopes it will continue. However, she sees parents who have chosen not to use the routine MMR vaccine – measles, mumps and rubella – that most people receive when they were children. The trend began after the publication of a study in a medical journal in the 1990s badociating MMR with autism.
"Since then, this study has been proven – again and again – to be incorrect. No researcher has been able to replicate these results. It was removed from the magazine and all researchers who participated in the study stated that it was wrong. But the damage is done, "said DeShon.
The Internet, which spreads misinformation quickly, has aggravated the problem. Parents forget routine vaccinations for fear and ignorance. The problem is so worrying that the World Health Organization has rated reluctance or refusal of vaccination as one of the top 10 global health threats in 2019.
Because of the anti-vaccine trend, the diseases that most people have never seen reappear. And although measles is not usually a deadly disease, thousands of people around the world die each year.
"Children who have low immunity for whatever reason are at greater risk," said DeShon. The disease is of particular concern in pregnant women and can have disastrous consequences for the fetus.
Because some children can not get vaccinated – children with certain health problems and those under the age of one – parents who choose not to vaccinate their healthy children put others at risk, said DeShon .
Adults are not immunized against measles either, but most people born after 1960 have been vaccinated and those born before 1957 have developed immunity to the disease when it circulates safely in the population. If you are not sure of your immunity, talk to your doctor.
"You can always go for the test to see if you are immune," DeShon said. "If you have had measles, you are immune and if you have had both MMR vaccines, you are immune. If we start to see a lot of cases, we could do a reminder, but until now, the cases we have seen involve people who have not been vaccinated. "
People with symptoms should go into quarantine. Stay out of the public and call your doctor to tell him what's going on before going to an appointment, said DeShon.
The good news about real cases of measles is that it might encourage some parents to vaccinate their children. One of the reasons people think that there is no risk of not vaccinating is that they have never seen the disease, which can be very painful even if the patient is fully recovered.
The problem with vaccinations is that they can actually eradicate a disease. After a while, if no case was observed in the world, it was determined that the disease had disappeared. At this point, vaccinations are no longer necessary. That's what happened with smallpox and it's close to polio, said DeShon.
"Would not it be good if we did not have to make vaccines?"
You can contact Leslie Renken at 686-3250 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter.com/LeslieRenken and subscribe to her on Facebook.com/leslie.renken.
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