2024-03-05 17:07:24
Almost disappearing 25 years ago, measles has reappeared almost everywhere on the planet in recent years thanks to the pandemic and the debate surrounding vaccines.
1. What is measles?
It is a viral infection that can be transmitted extremely easily through direct and indirect contact. For example, it is transmitted by airborne droplets. It is therefore easy to catch it by simply being in the same room as an infected person exhaling small drops from the nose and throat.
Symptoms of measles include fever, cough, runny nose, mouth sores and red eyes. Distinctive red bumps also appear on the face and all over the body.
Measles lasts 7 to 21 days, but skin lesions are usually only visible for 4 to 7 days.
More or less severe complications, such as ear infections and pneumonia, occur in three cases out of 100, but severe complications, including those affecting the central nervous system, can also occur.
It can also lead to blindness, deafness and even intellectual disability.
The disease can cause death in an estimated proportion of 1 in 3000 cases.
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The rash may last 4 to 7 days.
Photo : Radio-Canada / CBC
2. Can adults catch it?
Yes. You should know that it is first of all a childhood illness that is generally more benign for children than for adults. Adults who get it are usually sicker, except when certain complications occur in younger people.
For example, in the case of encephalitis, the consequences for a one-year-old child whose brain is not yet developed can be much more severe than for a 45-year-old adult, who may be left with after-effects, but whose central nervous system has already undergone normal development.
3. What was the situation before the arrival of the vaccine?
As measles is extremely contagious, all birth cohorts in Quebec ended up catching the disease, explained Dr. Karl Weiss, microbiologist and specialist in infectious diseases at the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal, during an interview in 2019.
In Quebec in the 1900s-1920s, all children born in a year ended up catching measles. Some died, others were left with after-effects. The majority eventually survived, but it was not a benign illness.
For this reason, people who were born before the vaccine was introduced are considered immune to measles, because they must have caught it when they were young.
Internationally, before the vaccine’s arrival, World Health Organization data shows that serious outbreaks regularly killed about 2.6 million people each year.
4. What happened with the arrival of the vaccine?
Thanks to massive vaccination campaigns undertaken in 1971, measles virtually disappeared from the planet.
Cases went from several tens of millions per year to a few tens of thousands subsequently, to reach a few thousand, explained Dr. Weiss in 2019.
In Canada, there were years when there was almost no measles, rarities more than anything else.
So much so that I, a specialist in infectious diseases, have not seen a case of measles for years. The last case of measles I had seen I was a resident in the 1990s.
Did you know?
The World Health Organization estimates that 128,000 people died from measles in 2021, mainly children under the age of five. Measles cases increased by 18% in 2022 while deaths increased by 43% in 2021. worldwide (compared to 2021).
5. Why is it resurfacing?
The current resurgence is essentially due to three factors. Firstly, the appearance of nests of infection in certain countries in the grip of a civil war such as, for example, Yemen.
Parents do not think about vaccinating their children when they are in a survival situation and, often, the non-existent medical infrastructure simply does not allow it.
There is the anti-vaccine movement that appeared in the West before the pandemic, but energized by it. Work published in 1998 in the journal The Lancet had caused panic in the world by establishing a link between the vaccine and childhood autism. The publication of the results of this study, carried out on a sample of only 12 children, led to a marked drop in vaccination in many Western countries including Canada.
The newspaper The Lancet recanted in 2010 and removed the study from its archives. Much research published since then has found no correlation between the onset of autism in children and the triple MMR vaccine.
By not vaccinating their children, when you have a resurgence elsewhere in the world, you create fertile ground for the resurgence of cases, explained Dr. Weiss.
And the pandemic itself has led to a decline in surveillance and vaccination. The suspension of immunization services, falling immunization rates and reduced surveillance activities across the world have left millions of children vulnerable to preventable diseases like measles, notes WHO.
6. What is the risk of contracting it in Canada?
Overall, the risk is low, but it is higher today than it was 20 years ago, particularly for those who have not been vaccinated. It should be remembered that more than 90% of people who are not immune to measles and who come into contact with the virus become infected.
Cases and outbreaks can still occur in the country since measles is present throughout the world and unvaccinated travelers can still bring it to Canada.
7. Is the vaccine effective?
After the first dose, the vaccine is very effective beyond 85% to 95% and, after two doses, it is more than 95%. However, for 25 years, the majority of children have received a second dose.
Outbreaks can still occur in populations with high vaccination coverage rates. Since measles is highly infectious, at least 95% of the population must be immunized to develop herd immunity.
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The MMR vaccine against measles, rubella and mumps.
Photo : Reuters / Lindsey Wasson
Did you know?
The concept of a vaccine is to put you in the presence of an attenuated microbe to allow your body to learn how to fight it. So when you are in his presence during your life, you will be able to fight him.
8. Is the vaccine safe?
It is considered very safe. Hundreds of millions of vaccine doses have been administered with very few side effects since its inception in the 1960s.
But, like all vaccines, minor, and sometimes more severe, side effects can occur.
When you take a plane, there is always a risk. If you administer 5 million doses, perhaps you will have one person who will have a significant complication from the vaccine, but you always have to put that into perspective in the face of tens of millions of people who have not caught measles. .
9. What should I do if I have symptoms?
If you have symptoms of measles, you should be seen by a doctor. Before traveling, contact the health establishment to inform staff that you may have measles. In the meantime, stay home to avoid infecting other people. The diagnosis of measles is confirmed by a blood test, urine analysis and a nasopharynx swab.
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