The bad fashion not to vaccinate children takes its death toll. In Europe, more and more people who have not been vaccinated against measles die of this seemingly banal childhood disease. In many people, measles has left a permanent mark as a serious neurological disorder.

Failure to vaccinate children may lead to the reappearance of many dangerous infectious diseases .Vaccinations are effective in fighting disease only when carried out on a massive scale. For example, vaccination against smallpox was a success - in 1980 the deadly disease was eliminated.

- Such success is possible only when vaccinations are really mass vaccination, they cover more than 90 percent. population. If a small percentage of the population is vaccinated or there are intervals between vaccinations that are inconsistent with the dosage of the vaccine, pathogenic microorganisms may mutate, resulting in the emergence of new pathogenic strains against which the available vaccines are not effective - says Dr. Wojciech Feleszko, pediatric immunologist from the Clinic of Pneumonology and Allergology At the Clinical Hospital of the Medical University of Warsaw in Warsaw.

Measles can be very dangerous

After more than 50 years of compulsory vaccinations, we have become used to treating measles as a minor infectious disease in childhood. But the situation is changing for the worse.

Along with the phobia of vaccinating children. Instead of blessing life-saving vaccines, some parents discuss whether their children should be immunized. Black PR has harmed MMR vaccinations (measles, mumps, rubella), and as a result, in recent years, the number of cases of measles, a dangerous disease for which vaccinations are mandatory, has increased in recent years in many countries in Europe and the world, warns Dr. Wojciech Feleszko.

No measles vaccines

In 2022, more than 260 cases of measles were recorded - the highest number in years! No wonder more and more people are queuing for vaccines. The problem is that there are no vaccines. Poles bought them at an express pace. At the moment you can get them in only a few pharmacies in the country.

Complications after measles

The introduction of compulsory vaccination against measles has significantly reduced the incidence of the disease and its occurrencecomplications. When a child is vaccinated, measles is usually light and uneventful. An unvaccinated child is exposed to:

  • pneumonia caused by bacterial superinfection
  • otitis media
  • myocarditis
  • encephalitis (around 1 in 1,000 cases)
  • subacute sclerosing encephalitis

Especially dangerous is subacute sclerosing encephalitis (LESS - Latin leukoencephalitis subacuta scleroticans), which develops 7-10 years after getting measles. Characteristic for this complication is the remarkably high concentration of antibodies to the virus, as well as severe neurological symptoms in the form of speech disorders, mental retardation and progressive paresis, which quickly lead to a post-cerebral state. Medicine is powerless to deal with this complication, and the prognosis is always poor.

How measles works

Measlesis a viral disease caused by theMeasles virusvirus. Infants from 6 to 12 months of age (prior to the first vaccination) as well as children up to 15 years of age who have not received booster doses of the vaccine are at risk of infection.

  • Symptoms: initially, catarrh of the conjunctiva, respiratory tract, dry cough. Then the child gets a high fever, and after a few days, vivid red spots with small irregularly shaped lumps appear on the body. The temperature drops from the moment the rash appears, but the child continues to have a runny nose and cough. After a few days, the rash turns brown and then begins to peel off.
  • Treatment: The areas affected by the rash should be lubricated with a preparation with zinc oxide, which will alleviate the itching, give antitussive syrup and antipyretic drugs.
  • Prevention: Children in Poland are vaccinated against measles twice - at the age of 13-14 months and 7 years.
Important

Fear of vaccinations was provoked by false research

Reluctance to vaccinate was caused by a scientific publication by Dr. Andrew Wakefield in 1998, who in the prestigious scientific journal "Lancet" published an article containing suggestions that the MMR vaccine (measles, mumps, rubella) causes autism in children. It quickly turned out that the research described by Andrew Wakefield was unreliable. His arguments have been repeatedly refuted by scientists as being unscientific and completely untrue. Dozens of studies contradicted Wakefield's information, and the magazine apologized for the publication. Unfortunately, this rumor still lives its own life, also in Poland.

Measles: causes, symptoms, treatment, complications

Category:

Infectious diseases