Millions of children miss measles shots, creating outbreaks - UNICEF

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Millions of children miss measles shots, creating outbreaks - UNICEF

By Kate Kelland

 

FILE PHOTO: A vial of the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine is pictured at the International Community Health Services clinic in Seattle, Washington, U.S., March 20, 2019. REUTERS/Lindsey Wasson/File Photo

 

LONDON (Reuters) - More than 20 million children a year missed out on measles vaccines across the world in the past eight years, laying a path of exposure to a virus that is now causing disease outbreaks globally, a United Nations report said on Thursday.

 

"The measles virus will always find unvaccinated children," said Henrietta Fore, executive director of the United Nations children's fund UNICEF, adding: "The ground for the global measles outbreaks we are witnessing today was laid years ago."

 

The UNICEF report said an estimated 169 million children missed out on the first dose of the measles vaccine between 2010 and 2017 - equating to 21.1 million children a year on average.

 

As a result of greater vulnerability to the disease, the measles infections worldwide nearly quadrupled in the first quarter of 2019 against the same period in 2018 to 112,163 cases, according to World Health Organization data.

 

In 2017, some 110,000 people, most of them children, died from measles - up 22 percent from the year before, UNICEF said.

 

Measles is a highly contagious disease that can kill and can cause blindness, deafness or brain damage. It is currently spreading in outbreaks in many parts of the world, including in the United States, Europe, the Philippines, Tunisia and Thailand.

 

Two doses of the measles vaccine are essential to protect children and the WHO says 95 percent vaccine coverage is needed for "herd immunity" against measles.

 

But due to lack of access, poor health systems, complacency, and in some cases fear or scepticism about vaccines, UNICEF said, the global coverage of the first dose of the measles vaccine was reported at 85 percent in 2017 - a level that has remained similar for the past decade. Global coverage for the second dose is even lower, at 67 percent.

 

Among high-income countries, the United States - which currently is fighting its biggest measles outbreak in almost 20 years - topped UNICEF's list of places with the most children missing the first dose of the vaccine between 2010 and 2017, at more than 2.5 million.

 

Next came France and Britain, with more than 600,000 and 500,000 unvaccinated children, respectively, during the same period.

 

In poorer countries, however, the situation is "critical", UNICEF's report found. Nigeria in 2017, for example, had the highest number of children under one year old who missed out on the first dose, at nearly 4 million. It was followed by India, with 2.9 million, Pakistan and Indonesia, with 1.2 million each, and Ethiopia, with 1.1 million.

 

Fore said measles was "far too contagious" a disease to be ignored, and urged health officials to do more to fight it.

 

"If we are serious about averting the spread of this dangerous but preventable disease, we need to vaccinate every child, in rich and poor countries alike," she said.

 

(Reporting by Kate Kelland)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-04-25

[canuckamuck]

Remember when measles was just part of growing up and people were surprised you hadn't had it yet.

Now they act like it is polio or the plague.

[Thainesss]

Ive had about a billion vaccinations including for anthrax yet somehow between impoverished countries, complacency and liberal anti-vaxxers when have to read about measles again. 

[welovesundaysatspace]

8 minutes ago, canuckamuck said:

Remember when measles was just part of growing up and people were surprised you hadn't had it yet.

Now they act like it is polio or the plague.

And remember when we still lived in caves without electricity and internet? Can’t believe we are making such a fuss about improving our lives. 

[chilli42]

There are serious health risks for adults, infants and pregnant women.  For kids, it’s mostly just a week off school.

[metisdead]

A conspiracy post has been removed. 

 

A number of off topic deflection posts and replies have been removed. The topic is not "what about" ADHD, HIV, autism, Cerebral Palsy, Muscular Dystrophy, Spina Bifida, Downs Syndrome.  

[PremiumLane]

12 hours ago, canuckamuck said:

Remember when measles was just part of growing up and people were surprised you hadn't had it yet.

Now they act like it is polio or the plague.

remember when people died because of measles. No? That is because of vaccination programs.  You really should read about a subject before saying silly things. 

[BritManToo]

20 minutes ago, PremiumLane said:

remember when people died because of measles. No? That is because of vaccination programs.  You really should read about a subject before saying silly things. 

I don't know anyone that died from measles from the days before vaccinations.

Our whole school had it, including me, everyone recovered, one girl claimed it made her hearing worse. 

Maybe it was because healthy well fed children in the western world didn't die from such trivial diseases, and it only ever seriously affected the malnourished and already weak children in the 3rd world.

[GroveHillWanderer]

6 minutes ago, canuckamuck said:

 But we didn't die, that's what I am saying.  

Well no, not everybody died of measles, otherwise there'd be nobody left. But before the measles vaccine was introduced in 1963, measles caused an average of 2.6 million deaths each year. Just think of that - 2.6 million per year.

 

From 2000 to 2017 alone, measles vaccination resulted in a 80% drop in measles deaths, saving an estimated 21.1 million lives.

 

WHO fact sheet on measles

 

[canuckamuck]

7 minutes ago, GroveHillWanderer said:

Well no, not everybody died of measles, otherwise there'd be nobody left. But before the measles vaccine was introduced in 1963, measles caused an average of 2.6 million deaths each year. Just think of that - 2.6 million per year.

 

From 2000 to 2017 alone, measles vaccination resulted in a 80% drop in measles deaths, saving an estimated 21.1 million lives.

 

WHO fact sheet on measles

 

The majority of those deaths are from third world nations. In developed western nations, deaths from measles were very rare. In fact, I never heard of anyone dying from measles. The real killer was poor access to medical care.

[GroveHillWanderer]

14 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

I don't know anyone that died from measles from the days before vaccinations.

Neither do I - but it still happened. For instance, Roald Dahl's eldest daughter died of it in 1962. Here's a piece he wrote about it in 1986.

 

Quote

Measles: a dangerous illness, by Roald Dahl 

Olivia, my eldest daughter, caught measles when she was seven years old.

As the illness took its usual course I can remember reading to her often in bed and not feeling particularly alarmed about it. Then one morning, when she was well on the road to recovery, I was sitting on her bed showing her how to fashion little animals out of coloured pipe-cleaners, and when it came to her turn to make one herself, I noticed that her fingers and her mind were not working together and she couldn’t do anything.

“Are you feeling all right?” I asked her.

“I feel all sleepy, ” she said.

In an hour, she was unconscious. In twelve hours she was dead.

The measles had turned into a terrible thing called measles encephalitis and there was nothing the doctors could do to save her.

That was twenty-four years ago in 1962, but even now, if a child with measles happens to develop the same deadly reaction from measles as Olivia did, there would still be nothing the doctors could do to help her.

On the other hand, there is today something that parents can do to make sure that this sort of tragedy does not happen to a child of theirs. They can insist that their child is immunised against measles. I was unable to do that for Olivia in 1962 because in those days a reliable measles vaccine had not been discovered. Today a good and safe vaccine is available to every family and all you have to do is to ask your doctor to administer it.

 

[Credo]

3 hours ago, canuckamuck said:

The majority of those deaths are from third world nations. In developed western nations, deaths from measles were very rare. In fact, I never heard of anyone dying from measles. The real killer was poor access to medical care.

Whether you heard of anyone dying, they did.   A lot of people died of complications from Measles.   Pneumonia and encephalitis are two of the big killers and affects of Measles.    

 

We have more and more children (and adults) who have compromised immune systems.   Children born prematurely that are now kept alive, but they have weaker immunity.   Measles is highly contagious.    Medical attention is diverted from more serious illnesses when there is an outbreak.   This outbreak is particularly bad, in part because it is almost 100% preventable.   

[BritManToo]

5 hours ago, Credo said:

We have more and more children (and adults) who have compromised immune systems. 

Some claim it's multiple vaccination at an early age that causes this.

 

[Credo]

20 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Some claim it's multiple vaccination at an early age that causes this.

 

And some claim voodoo works.    We have babies being born very prematurely and with that comes immune systems that are not fully developed.   

[thaibeachlovers]

On ‎4‎/‎25‎/‎2019 at 1:12 PM, canuckamuck said:

Remember when measles was just part of growing up and people were surprised you hadn't had it yet.

Now they act like it is polio or the plague.

Yeah. I was put to bed with a friend that had measles so I'd get it. No big deal for children, but a big deal for adults. Any adult not vaccinated should rectify that.

[thaibeachlovers]

6 hours ago, Credo said:

And some claim voodoo works.    We have babies being born very prematurely and with that comes immune systems that are not fully developed.   

The trend for women to have caesarean births is apparently depriving babies of exposure to the bacteria in the vagina that helps children become healthy and resist infections. The medical profession has much to answer for by pandering to women too posh to push.

[Odysseus123]

11 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

The trend for women to have caesarean births is apparently depriving babies of exposure to the bacteria in the vagina that helps children become healthy and resist infections. The medical profession has much to answer for by pandering to women too posh to push.

Of course many other women died in prenatal and post natal complications.They were too ill to push,bled to death afterwards or died of infections.

 

Those who hanker for the good ol' world of 1800 have rocks in their heads.

 

 

[dick dasterdly]

12 hours ago, Credo said:

Whether you heard of anyone dying, they did.   A lot of people died of complications from Measles.   Pneumonia and encephalitis are two of the big killers and affects of Measles.    

 

We have more and more children (and adults) who have compromised immune systems.   Children born prematurely that are now kept alive, but they have weaker immunity.   Measles is highly contagious.    Medical attention is diverted from more serious illnesses when there is an outbreak.   This outbreak is particularly bad, in part because it is almost 100% preventable.   

"We have more and more children (and adults) who have compromised immune systems."

 

How did this happen?

[Odysseus123]

9 minutes ago, dick dasterdly said:

"We have more and more children (and adults) who have compromised immune systems."

 

How did this happen?

It's nonsense,anyway.

 

Historically speaking,those who had compromised immune systems died

 

Prior to Jenner,Lister,Pasteur,Fleming,et al..

 

You got to attend a LOT of funerals.

[PremiumLane]

18 hours ago, canuckamuck said:

The majority of those deaths are from third world nations. In developed western nations, deaths from measles were very rare. In fact, I never heard of anyone dying from measles. The real killer was poor access to medical care.

so forget the actual facts because I personally haven't heard of anyone dieing from it. Sure glad science doesn't work like that 

[Grouse]

Measles should be eradicated by now.

 

Anti vaccination groups are both moronic AND evil.

 

Good to see that Facebook and others are taking their communications down.

 

http://vk.ovg.ox.ac.uk/measles

[RickBradford]

6 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

The trend for women to have caesarean births is apparently depriving babies of exposure to the bacteria in the vagina that helps children become healthy and resist infections. The medical profession has much to answer for by pandering to women too posh to push.

Children are also exposed to less bacteria than previously. Kids used to run around gardens, eating mud, scraping their knees and generally inhaling nature in the raw. This kind of activity helps the immune system develop.

 

Now they spend their time staring at screens figuring out whether to use the Atomic Blaster or the Hyper-Ionic bomb to kill some scaly-faced galactic invader.

 

Combine high-sugar diets, hyper-sterile environments, lack of natural light, over-reliance on antibiotics, lack of exercise, and obesity and you have the perfect ingredients for a weakened immune system.

[ballpoint]

Food for thought...

 

 

[Credo]

9 hours ago, dick dasterdly said:

"We have more and more children (and adults) who have compromised immune systems."

 

How did this happen?

There are a probably a lot of reasons.   Someone pointed out that C-sections may be a contributing cause.   Premature birth certainly is.   HIV and a few other diseases seriously compromise our immunity.   Old age is also a contributing factor, with older adults having a decreased immune response.

 

Someone also noted that kids not playing outside and being exposed to a variety of mild pathogens that help to build the bodies immune system -- and also probably helps to prevent allergies and possibly asthma.   

 

But regardless of these factors, we live in large cities and have rapid mass transit systems.   We fly all over the globe in hours.   We can come in contact with thousands of people in a day.  Our biological system was not really built for that kind of exposure.   Historically, we've had outbreaks that 'thinned' the crowd, some of them rather drastically.   

 

Measles isn't going to thin the crowd by much, at least not as it now exists, but it does put an major strain on the medical resources of a lot of countries.   Because we live in the world we do, vaccine is the only effective way of preventing and slowing these type of outbreaks.

 

Measles is really a bellweather of what may lie ahead if we don't start getting our act together.   

[rickudon]

Reality -in the 50's, when i was born, mass vaccinations were just beginning. There was a lot of disease, and most of us got all the childhood diseases. And some of us were never the same. I had measles, but had to be hospitalised. My brother got rubella (which many people think is more trivial) and ended up in hospital for 4 months and had heart damage. He could hardly walk when he was discharged (aged 4) and had to use my pushchair to get home from school even months later. I had a sister and a cousin who died soon after birth. At school, there were 2 kids with calipers because of polio. And they were the lucky ones, not dead or in iron lungs. You didn't see the unlucky ones at school.

 

Any one who refuses to vaccinate their kids is playing Russian roulette with their lives, and other people's lives. Better just use a bullet on yourself for the good of humanity.

[Scott]

Troll posts removed.   The topic is about vaccination.  

[Scott]

Posts from sites which are not credible removed.  

[markcm19]

Measles is less harmful than the common cold, as far as I know. This is scare mongering, who knows why.

[Credo]

1 hour ago, markcm19 said:

Measles is less harmful than the common cold, as far as I know. This is scare mongering, who knows why.

Measles is a lot more harmful than the common cold.   Such assertions are misleading.   In addition to being a potentially deadly disease, it is preventable.   

Here's a little link on the dangers:

https://www.uchicagomedicine.org/forefront/pediatrics-articles/2019/february/measles-is-still-a-very-dangerous-disease

 

When I was young we had a measles outbreak.   Most of the kids in my class (and family) caught it without a problem.   A neighbor caught it had trouble.   He also got encephalitis and died.   At that time the connection between the two diseases was not mentioned.   

 

 

[rickudon]

Measles is highly infectious. Without vaccination or prior immunity, the chances of catching measles from another member of your household can be 90%. In one documented case. over 150 people caught measles at Disneyland from possibly one infected person. Prior to vaccination, nearly everyone contracted measles during childhood. Without vaccination you would be susceptible to infection at any age if you come into contact with a measles sufferer (e.g. by travelling to a country where it is still endemic)

 

Mortality - very variable. In populations not previously exposed to measles, mortality rates of up to  50% have been recorded historically. In parts of the Americas, native populations were severely affected by contact with Europeans. In parts of the world with poor healthcare and malnourishment the death rate can still be as high as 10%. Typical death rates in developed countries are around 0.1%. Actual cause of death is complicated as most deaths are due to complications such as seizures, pneumonia, encephalitis etc., and may be recorded as such. Complications can cause death years later. Prior to Vaccination measles killed around one million people a year globally (some estimates far higher). It still kills about 100,000 a year.