The return of measles – Axios

Until here in 2019:

• 695 confirmed cases of measles in 22 states.
• More than 70 new confirmed cases reported in last week.
• 5 states report ongoing outbreaks from Monday (at least 3 cases on a site are considered outbreaks).

We can be a victim of our own success in eliminating what was once a highly contagious virus.

• According to the CDC, before 1963, between 3 and 4 million of them were infected each year and almost all children had caught measles at the age of 15.
• A spokesman for the CDC told Axios that among the reported cases, between 400 and 500 people died each year before vaccination, 48,000 were hospitalized and 1,000 people suffered from encephalitis (swelling of the brain) due to measles.

Now, largely thanks to vaccination efforts which began in 1963, most Americans have no experience of the virus.

• Parents can be fooled think that measles is a relatively mild illness, similar to the flu, and thinks that vaccination is useless or not a priority.
• This is not just wrongbut this could have fatal consequences.

"Parents may think that many vaccine-preventable diseases are benign, but there is no way to tell how bad a disease can be for a child, "CDC spokesman Jason McDonald told Axios But measles can be especially dangerous for babies and young children, he says.

• From 2001 to 2013, 28% of children under 5 years of age with measles had to be treated at the hospital, McDonald said, referring to relatively small outbreaks related to measles patients who traveled to the United States. United States from areas where the disease is still active. .
• "Some children develop pneumonia (a serious lung infection) or brain damage for life."

Different communities hesitant about the vaccine The combination of the two factors means that vaccination rates fall below effective levels of immunity, says Anthony Fauci, head of the National Allergy and Infectious Disease Institutes in Axios.

"It's a bit like all the stars were at the right pace for the disaster we're seeing now, because we combine several factors to give these outbreaks," says Fauci.

The situation is worrying enough in New York State alone for the CDC to issue a stern warning on Wednesday: "The longer these epidemics continue, the more likely it is that measles will spread again in the US" .

The bottom line: A relatively morbid source of hope, however, is the widely reported impact on the health of ongoing epidemics, with children in intensive care units and an El Al Airlines flight attendant in the coma.

"Unfortunately, I think the best motivation … is that we have these outbreaks and people get really sick," says Fauci. "These are the things that will push people to reconsider that."

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