by A child died of measles in Texas, said civil servants – the first death due to the highly contagious disease that the United States saw in ten years.
The school -going child was not vaccinated, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. The death of the child comes in the midst of the largest outbreak of the state in almost 30 years, which has made at least 146 people sick since the end of January.
According to Tuesday, neighboring New Mexico also reported nine cases according to the state’s health department. The agency said the outbreak takes place in Lea County, in the border line of the State from Gaines County, Texas, where most cases of measles were reported in the state.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that from 20 February measles cases have also been reported in Alaska, California, Georgia, New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island.
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Yahoo News answers some of the most frequently asked questions about the virus.
What should I know about measles?
Measles, also known as Rubeola, is one of the most contagious diseases in the world, whose symptoms are fever and rash. It can lead to serious health complications, especially in children under 5 hours that have not been vaccinated.
How it spreads: Because of the air when an infected person breathes, coughs, sneezing or talking. It is so contagious that nine out of 10 people who are exposed to the virus are infected if they have not been vaccinated, according to the CDC.
Air drops of the virus can stay in a room for two hours, even after the person with measles has left the room, according to Cleveland Clinic. Droplets from the measles virus can also land on surfaces and thus spread to other people.
Measles can also be spread by:
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Food or share drinks or kiss someone who has measles
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Shake hands or hold hand or hug someone with measles
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If someone touches a surface that contains the virus and then touches his mouth, nose or eyes
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Pregnant women with measles can give it to their babies during pregnancy or during breastfeeding
Drawing and symptoms: Measles Symptoms can appear seven to 14 days after a person has contact with the virus. Common symptoms of measles are:
About three days after these first symptoms start, small white spots can appear in the mouth.
Three to five days after the first symptoms begin, an infected person will develop a red, flavoring rash that often starts from the head and moves through the body. According to Cleveland Clinic, the result can take approximately seven to 10 days.
People who are infected with measles can spread the virus four days before the result, up to four days after it leaves, says the National Institute of Health.
No treatment: There is currently no treatment for measles and the virus must be running, which can take about 10 to 14 days. In general, health agencies say that the best treatment for measles is prevention through the measles vaccine.
What drives the last outbreak of measles?
Mazles was eradicated in 2000 in the US, a performance achieved by vaccinations. Measles can be carried by non -vaccinated travelers in the US, including Americans, as well as foreign travelers who bring it back to American measles can spread among non -vaccinated individuals and can lead to outbreaks.
The latest outbreak in West -Texas spread mainly through a Mennonite community.
“Mazles is a great exploor of non-vaccinated individuals,” said Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine to Baylor College of Medicine and co-director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, to Yahoo News. “If you have a significant population that has not been vaccinated, measles can continue those populations very quickly because it is one of the most very transferable virus remedies that we know.”
Measles “has a reproductive number between 12 and 18,” said Hotez. “It means that a single person on average can infect another 12 to 18 non -vaccinated individuals.”
I am an adult who was vaccinated as a child. Do I need a booster?
There are two types of vaccines that protect against measles, given in the form of a shot:
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Measles, Bof, Rubella (MMR) Vaccin
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Measles, Bof, Rubella, Varicella (MMRV) Vaccin. Varicella is the chickenpox vaccine.
“MMR & MMRV vaccines usually protect people for life against measles and rubella; But immunity against mumps can decrease over time, “according to the CDC website.
However, the CDC says that a certain type of inactive measles vaccine was made available between 1963 and 1967 “was not effective”, so they advise certain adults to get a booster.
“People who were vaccinated before 1968 with either inactivated (killed) measles vaccine or measles vaccine of unknown type, must be transferred with at least one dose of live weakened measles vaccine,” says the federal agency on its website.
Which other groups of people need to be vaccinated that do not have immunity?
The CDC recommends that children get their first dose at 12 to 15 months old, with the second and last dose in 4 or 5 years old.
Hotez emphasizes Americans to ensure that children are vaccinated. “It caused half a million deaths every year in the eighties and seventies,” he says. “It was the most important murderer of children worldwide.”
The CDC says that vaccination of measles is especially important for adults who have no evidence of immunity, including:
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Students at educational institutions after the high school
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People of fertile age before they get pregnant
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Groups with an increased risk of mumps due to an outbreak
Regardless of the age, Hotez says: “It is never too late to continue and vaccinate.”
If you cannot find your vaccination data, the Mayo Clinic recommends talking to your doctor because a blood test can confirm whether you have immunity by receiving a vaccine earlier.
Dr. Céline Gousder, CBS News Medical Perseverance, says it is no harm to get a measles booster if you are not sure. “That is actually what we would advise to do, unlike getting a blood test to see if there are antibodies – just get a booster if you are in doubt,” she told CBS.
The CDC also advises that certain people must contact their care provider to be vaccinated, including people with a weakened immune system due to illness or medical treatments or being pregnant.
I am exposed to measles. What should I do?
The CDC recommends that if you have had a known exposure to measles and have no immunity for measles due to vaccination or previous infections, “talk to your doctor about getting MMR vaccine.” The health agency says it is not harmful to get the vaccine after exposure to measles, mumps or rubella.
If you have had a well -known exposure to measles, there are two types of prophylaxis after exposure before the virus that “possibly protection offers or the clinical course of the disease changes,” according to the CDC:
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A person can get a measles vaccine within 72 hours of the exposure of the initial measles
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Measles immunoglobulin can be administered within 6 days of exposure
My state has no outbreak of measles. Do I still have to worry?
Because measles are so contagious, doctors in states without current outbreaks are concerned about non -vaccinated persons who have no evidence of immunity.
“Although it is in the south and far away, we know that measles are very contagious,” Dr. Satina Wheat, a family doctor at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, at CBS News.
Last year, Chicago had its own outbreak of measles. A total of 57 migrants in a hiding place tested positive for measles in March and April.
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, told CBS News that he believes that measles will spread past Texas and New Mexico.
“If you have spread so much virus in that part of Texas and New Mexico, I think there is an inevitability that you will see things export to those states where there are low vaccination rates and you could see a continuous distribution across the country,” Gottlieb said. He then mentioned some of the states with low vaccination rates: Idaho with 80%, Alaska and Wisconsin are around 84%, Minnesota is at 87%, while states such as Florida, Colorado, Oklahoma, Georgia, Utah are about 88%.
Why are people who are also sick vaccinated?
The measles vaccine is safe and effective. When two doses are given, the vaccine is 97% effective against measles. One dose is around 93% effective.
In the Texas outbreak, five people who were vaccinated were infected with measles.
Few people who get two doses of the vaccine can get measles if they are exposed to the virus – about three on every 100, according to the CDC.
“Experts are not certain why,” says the health agency. “It may be that their immune system did not respond as well as they should have on the vaccine. But the good news is, fully vaccinated people who get measles, seem to have a milder disease rather. “
What is needed to end these outbreaks?
The CDC defines an outbreak of measles as three or more related cases present within a specific geographical area. To end an outbreak, a high percentage of the eligible persons in the affected area must be vaccinated.
“High persistent baseline measles vaccine coverage and rapid response to public health are crucial for preventing and controlling cases and outbreaks of measles,” the CDC said.
Gottlieb said that for measles “herd -immunity is achieved by a vaccination percentage of approximately 93% and 95%.”
