Measles is a viral disease. It has no cure, but can be prevented by taking a vaccine. The measles vaccine is part of the mandatory vaccination schedule for all children in India.
What is measles?
It starts as a rash and then spreads to the respiratory system, causing complications.
The disease is painful and highly infectious.
It spreads through respiratory droplets. Patients usually have a rash that starts at the hairline and continues on the rest of the body. The rash appears about 7-10 days after the infection.
Complications include conjunctivitis and pneumonia.
Symptoms take about 10-14 days to subside.
Because the vaccine is very effective, cases of measles have gone down dramatically all over the world and many doctors now don’t know how to diagnose or treat measles.
So, if the vaccine takes care of the disease, why is it coming back?
A measles vaccine is 97% effective.
However, because of vaccine hesitancy (people thinking that vaccines are bad for us and refusing to take them), and because many of the regular vaccine programs could not work properly during Covid years, measles has made a comeback in recent years.
In the US, 3% of all children now have refused the measles vaccination. They had a measles outbreak in 2023 and are going through a measles outbreak now.
In India, in Madhya Pradesh, seventeen children have already been infected, but because of the highly contagious nature of the disease, more cases may come soon.
In the UK, 169 cases have been reported since January 22 alone.
In 2023, 300,000 cases of measles were reported worldwide, 79% more than in 2022!!
WHO has released a statement that because of missed vaccinations, many more people might be at risk in 2024.
What can we do?
Ensure that you have taken the measles vaccine, and the MMR boosters, where available.
Since the infection spreads through respiratory droplets, ensure the use of masks in public places.
If you know an infected child, please do isolate the child and do not let them go out until at least 5 days after their infection has completely subsided.