Measles

Scientific studies on measles:
A review article (a collection of scientific studies on a specific topic) of randomized, placebo-controlled double blind clinical trials (RCTs) will answer the following question:
"Do taking dietary supplements make sense?" Yes for a positive conclusion and no for a negative conclusion.

A review article (a collection of scientific studies on a specific topic) of cohort studies or case-control studies will answer the following question:
"Should I change my diet?".

1. Seroconversion rate is 96.0% for measles
2. Measles infection in pregnancy is dangerous for mother and fetus
3. Intralesional injection of mumps-measles-rubella vaccine is associated with a higher complete response in cutaneous warts
4. MCV1 vaccination at 6 to ≥15 months improves antibody response and measles protection among one-dose recipients
5. Measles vaccination before 9 months results in high seropositivity, vaccine effectiveness and T-cell responses
6. Insufficient evidence to confirm or refute the effect of zinc supplementation in children with measles
7. BCG and MCV vaccine may reduce overall mortality

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• Measles is a very contagious respiratory infection and it is caused by a rubeola virus.
• The measles virus (rubeola virus) is a single-stranded RNA virus of the genus Morbillivirus and the family Paramyxoviridae.
• Scientists have identified 21 strains of the measles virus.
• Vaccine induced immunity protects against all virus strains.
• Measles is a human disease and is not known to occur in animals.
• A runny nose, a cough, red and watery eyes and small white spots inside the cheeks can develop in the initial stage. After several days, a rash erupts, usually on the face and upper neck.
  Over about 3 days, the rash spreads, eventually reaching the hands and feet. The rash lasts for 5 to 6 days and then fades.
  On average, the rash occurs 14 days after exposure to the virus (within a range of 7 to 18 days).
• Complications are likely to have developed if the fever does not drop within 1 or 2 days after the onset of the rash.
• The most common complications of measles are:
  • otitis media (7-9%)
  • pneumonia (1-6%)
  • diarrhoea (8%)
  • post-infectious encephalitis (1 per 1000 to 2000 cases) and
  • subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE), which affects 1 per 100 000 cases
• The measles virus is spread by coughing and sneezing, close personal contact or direct contact with infected nasal or throat secretions.
• The measles virus remains active and contagious in the air or on infected surfaces for up to 2 hours.
  It can be transmitted by an infected person from 4 days prior to the onset of the rash to 4 days after the rash erupts.
  It is so contagious that if one person has it, up to 90% of the people around him or her will also become infected if they are not protected.
• The measles vaccine has been in use since the 1960s. It is safe, effective and inexpensive.
• Measles is difficult to distinguish from other causes of febrile illnesses with rash and infections with rubella, parvovirus B19, human herpes virus type 6 (HHV-6) and dengue can easily be mistaken for measles.
• Measles can be prevented with a MMR vaccine. The vaccine protects against 3 diseases: measles, mumps and rubella.
• MMR vaccine is given later than some other childhood vaccines because antibodies transferred from the mother to the baby can provide some protection from disease and make the MMR vaccine less effective until about 1 year of age.
  Maternal antibodies are the most common cause of primary vaccine failure.
• MMR vaccine is very safe and effective. Two doses of MMR vaccine are about 97% effective at preventing measles; one dose is about 93% effective.
• Measles vaccine is at least 95% effective and seroconversion rates are close 100%. Primary vaccine failure of the first dose at 12 months of age or older occurs in up to 5% of people, but 95% of first dose failures will seroconvert from a second dose.
  Seroconversion is the time period during which a specific antibody develops and becomes detectable in the blood. After seroconversion has occurred, the disease becomes detectable in blood tests for the antibody.
• To prevent measles in children, doctors usually give infants the first dose of the vaccine between 12 and 15 months, with the second dose typically given between ages 4 and 6 years.
• The basic reproduction number, R nought (R0), is defined as the average number of secondary cases of an infectious disease arising from a typical case in a totally susceptible population, and can be estimated in populations if pre-existing immunity can be accounted for in the calculation.
  R0 determines the herd immunity threshold and therefore the immunisation coverage required to achieve elimination of an infectious disease. As R0 increases, higher immunisation coverage is required to achieve herd immunity.
• For measles, R0 is often cited to be 12-18, which means that each person with measles would, on average, infect 12-18 other people in a totally susceptible population.
• Measles vaccination resulted in a 73% drop in measles deaths between 2000 and 2018 worldwide.