Sick child with red rashes from measles.
Measles is on the rise worldwide, with an estimated 10.3 million cases reported last year.
That’s a 20 percent increase from 2022, according to the World Health Organization, which blames the rise in numbers on inadequate vaccine coverage.
Measles is highly contagious and potentially fatal. Young children are particularly vulnerable to the disease, which killed an estimated 107,500 people in 2023, most of them under the age of 5. This is an increase of approximately 8% compared to the previous year.
Countries need almost all children (95%) to get two measles vaccines to prevent outbreaks of the disease and keep the population safe, the WHO says.
Last year, just 74% had received both recommended doses, while 87% had received one.
“The measles vaccine has saved more lives than any other vaccine in the past 50 years,” said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. he said in a statement. “To save even more lives and prevent this deadly virus from harming the most vulnerable, we must invest in vaccination for every person, no matter where they live.”
Measles signs and symptoms
Measles is airborne and spread when infected people cough, sneeze and breathe. It causes symptoms such as high fever, cough, runny nose and a characteristic rash that can appear all over the body.
It can lead to serious complications such as blindness, swelling of the brain, ear infections, severe diarrhea and pneumonia.
Vaccines train the body to respond to the virus that causes measles, making it harder for the disease to spread.
There is no set treatment for measles. However, caregivers can help a sick patient by making them comfortable and helping to relieve their symptoms, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In the US, measles is relatively rare. In 2023, only 59 cases were recorded nationally, mainly due to long-standing childhood vaccination programs.
However, cases continue to plague the country. This year, 277 cases have been recorded so far, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Vaccination
Vaccine skepticism is often blamed for rising measles rates. The triple measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines that protect against the disease have long been controversial, despite scientific evidence showing they are safe and effective.
A medical journal fraud The Lancet he did a lot suspected fuel from shots in the 1990s and early 2000s. British former doctor Andrew Wakefield—who was later stripped of his title—published falsified research that appeared to show a link between MMR shots and autism.
In fact, no such link has been found. in 2010, The Lancet withdrew the paper.
But the rumor about autism is still well and truly sown. It started in the US, where Wakefield relocated.
President-elect Donald Trump to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has long advanced the view that vaccines cause autism.
He is currently on leave as president of an anti-vaccine activist organization called Protecting Children’s Health, which is known for spreading misinformation about health issues, including measles vaccination, on social media.
