Measles cases spiking across the world: WHO
Vaccination is the only way to protect children from this potentially dangerous disease
(Web Desk) - Measles infections have significantly increased across the world, with a 30-fold jump recorded in Europe, according to a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO).
“We have seen in the region not only a 30-fold increase in measles cases, but also nearly 21,000 hospitalizations and 5 measles-related deaths.
This is concerning,” Hans Henri Kluge, regional director for the WHO in Europe, said in a statement.
Experts have pointed to declining vaccination rates as the primary cause. “The COVID-19 pandemic ushered in major disruptions in the childhood immunization schedules for many children all around the world as [the virus] became the healthcare focus,” Amish Adalja, M.D., an infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins University told The Messenger.
In the U.S., measles is vaccinated alongside mumps and rubella for a combined MMR shot.
The first MMR dose is given between 12 to 16 months of age, with a second dose between ages 4 or 6.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that 90.8% of American children have received their first MMR dose by age 2, a rate that has fallen in recent years.
Dr Adalja fears that recovering progress lost during COVID will be a major challenge going forward.
“It is very difficult, even post-pandemic, to get them back on track and a virus like measles, the most contagious known to humankind, is very unforgiving of any holes in population immunity.
These disruptions have been abetted by waves of vaccine hesitancy in western countries which are also increasing exemption rates,” he continued.
Measles was once one of the most serious infectious disease threats in the world, before the emergence of a vaccine for the disease in the 1960s.
It has largely subsided in the developed world since, but remains a threat in parts of the world that have limited access to medicine and vaccines. .
The highly infectious virus kills 200,000 people every year, causing the most harm to children in the developing world. It has largely disappeared from the West, making the recent uptick in cases and deaths of particular worry.
A report by the WHO and CDC last month found that deaths from the disease increased 40% last year when compared to 2021.
“Vaccination is the only way to protect children from this potentially dangerous disease.
Urgent vaccination efforts are needed to halt transmission and prevent further spread.
It is vital that all countries are prepared to rapidly detect and timely respond to measles outbreaks, which could endanger progress towards measles elimination,” Dr. Kluge continued.
While incidents of measles are surging across the world, the U.S. still has the problem largely under control. The CDC reported a combined 183 cases nationwide from 2020 to 2022.
Nearly half of these cases were linked to a single outbreak linked to daycare centers in Central Ohio late last year. A CDC investigation found nearly all of the children in the Ohio outbreak were unvaccinated.
