By RICHARD SKOLNIKWhite Rock
I thank the Post for running an article reminding people to get vaccinated against influenza (link).
It is also important to remind people to vaccinate their young on schedule against measles, especially since many people do not know how infectious and dangerous measles is.
In fact, measles is among the most infectious of all diseases. About 90 percent of unvaccinated people who are exposed to the virus will become infected. By contrast, the recommended two doses of measles vaccine are 97 percent effective in preventing infection.
Measles is also a dangerous disease. Ear infections occur in one out of ten infections and can lead to permanent deafness. One out of ten infections will lead to diarrhea. Measles can also lead to pneumonia or encephalitis. In addition, one or two children per 1,000 who get the disease will die from it. Measles also has a rare but fatal complication that can occur seven to 10 years after measles infection. In 2017, 110,000 under-5 children died of measles in the world.
Measles also can cause pregnant women to give birth prematurely or to a low birth weight baby.
CDC now reports outbreaks of measles in Washington state, New York City, upstate New York and Texas.
Because measles is so infectious, communities need to cover about 95 percent of the population with the vaccine to provide herd immunity – protection to even those who have not been vaccinated.
This is especially important since children cannot get their first dose of the vaccine until they are one year of age and given the risk of measles to the birth of healthy full-term babies.