microbiologyDisease Safety: Diseases — Measlesdark_mode

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DISCLAIMER

I do not have a medical license, and I am not distributing medical advice. Ask your primary care physician for more information.

Basic Info

Stats

Name: Measles, Rubeola, Morbilli
Lethality: 0.1% (1 in 1,000)
Anual Cases: Approximately 9,232,300
Anual Deaths: Estimated to be 136,200

History

Measles is believed to have come from our transition to agricultural societies. The first descriptions of a disease somewhat resembling measles comes from a text in ancient India. Measles became a global endemic and was a fact of life until the development of the MMR vaccine. However, measles is still around today because of antivaccination efforts.

Treatments & Prevention

There are no effective treatments for measles other than fever reduces and the like. Measles can be easily prevented with a vaccine. Many parents want to keep their children from getting vaccinated because they believe that vaccines are "toxic." This has led to increased measles prevalence.

Spread/Causes

Measles is caused by an incredibly contagious virus that is spread through the air via sneezing or coughing. This can also include breathing the same air as someone with measles. If you are unvaccinated and are exposed to measles, you have a 90% chance of getting infected. Scientists use a number known as R0 to describe contagiousness. The R0 describes how many people one infected person would infect if no one was vaccinated. Measles has one of the highest known R0 values at 12-18.

Symptoms

Symptoms of measles include a rash, coughing, pink eye, diarrohea, fever, malaise, fatigue, loss of appetite, muscle pain, sore throat, runny nose, and sneezing. Measles infections can progress and infect the brain, where they then cause encephalitis and death.