Despite effective prevention methods, measles is a growing problem worldwide. See these resources on the tricks measles uses to spread so rapidly!

(Left) A 3-D image of what the measles virus looks like. (Right) A child with the characteristic measles rash. Images courtesy of the CDC Public Health Image Library

Measles infection rates are 90%! Why?  

  • First up, a good general video on the spread of measles and infection rates from an excellent science and medicine news site – STAT. If you think colds and flu spread rapidly in daycare and work situations – you ain’t seen nothin’ till you’ve seen measles spread!

The STAT video gives us some excellent data on how measles as a respiratory virus spreads. WOW – isn’t the infection period amazingly long! It’s impressive that the rash may not show until a week after you are infected and are potentially spreading the virus!

Why do respiratory viruses spread so quickly (like on a train or classroom) as compared to blood-borne diseases like Ebola? Check out this fabulously gross video from NPR’s Science Friday on sneezes. I love showing this to my microbiology classes (and my daughters). eeewwwww. Remember – measles can stay alive in the air for TWO HOURS.

The article that inspired this post is next up.

How Measles Hacks the Body – and Harms Its Victims for Years by Megan Molteni is an excellent peek into a pathogen’s secrets.

Measles is EXTREMELY contagious

Look at where respiratory diseases are in general and measles is specifically, on this chart. It’s not a coincidence that the far right-hand category is “vaccinate now”. Vaccines exist for 4 out of 5 of these pathogens!

This amazing image from David McCandless (blog: Information Is Beautiful), published in the Guardian compares many well-known contagious diseases. I LOVE that there’s also a link to the raw data and data sources used to generate the graph!

Measles hijacks your immune defense system!

The measles virus infects the cells of your innate immune system whose job it is to kill them! For excellent visuals on how the immune system works, see the video below from Kurzgesagt. For a fun way to learn about the immune system and microbial tricks try the game Pathogenesis.

Now that measles has survived in the cells of the innate immune system, it rides those same cells to the lymph nodes for distribution throughout the body.

Next up, measles destroys the “memory” immune cells of your body’s adaptive immune system. While, the memory immune cells WILL “remember” and later recognize the measles virus, they will not recognize other viruses and bacteria you’ve been exposed to. You’re now more likely to get an illness you would have otherwise been immune to! ICK!

Finally, measles spreads so effectively because your damaged, virus-infected cells are easily coughed and sneezed out to others! One person with measles infects ten times more people than if they had flu or rotovirus.

Eradicate measles – vaccinate

In sum, the measles virus is nasty and sneaky. It spreads easily and rapidly using your body’s defenses to spread, but we can stop measles. We have a vaccine that is 97% effective if 2 immunizations are given. Unfortunately, there has been a great deal of misinformation spread about vaccines, which is driving the resurgence of preventable diseases like measles.

For solid, science-based information on vaccines for parents, see Science of Mom.  Alice Callahan, PhD does an excellent job in her book and on her blog discussing these issues. Do yourself, your children, and the global community a service – please vaccinate!

Please talk with your health care provider today about the appropriate vaccines for your family.

Additional Resources

https://www.asm.org/Articles/2019/May/What-You-Need-to-Know-About-the-Measles-Outbreak

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