Measles threat grows amid vaccination gaps, warns World Health Organization expert
Measles is known as the most contagious of all viral diseases. In a population without immunity, one person can infect up to 10 to 20 others. Children are particularly at risk of contracting the disease.
Symptoms include a high fever, cough, runny nose, and a characteristic body-wide rash. There are no specific drugs to treat the illness. Since measles is a viral disease, antibiotics won't fight it (antibiotics fight bacterial infections). However, the spread of the disease can be prevented through vaccination.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the reduction in the number of cases is largely due to vaccination programs. These, according to experts, have saved the lives of more than 50 million people in the past 20 years.
The issue is that during the COVID-19 pandemic, a decrease in vaccinations and a sharp increase in the number of measles cases have been observed. In Poland too, the number of unvaccinated children is rising each year.
"No one should die of measles"
The WHO warns of the outbreak of a global epidemic. The numbers don't lie. Recently, WHO specialists informed that in 2023, the number of measles cases in Europe increased as much as... 60 times.
We have large gaps in our vaccination programmes and if we don't fill them very quickly, measles will simply jump into this gap - warns Natasha Crowcroft, a WHO expert on measles and rubella, quoted by dw.com portal.
Measles is a potentially lethal disease, and its course can be severe at any age. The most common complications of measles include: inflammation of the middle ear, pneumonia, encephalitis following infection, and subacute sclerosing panencephalitis.
No one should die of measles. Vaccines are a safe and effective way to avoid unnecessary deaths - emphasises Andrea Ammon, director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
