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Measles Outbreak: An Imminent Global Threat, Declares WHO

Measles Outbreak: An Imminent Global Threat, Declares WHO
As per WHO, measles disease has not only become a serious threat in India but also in the world.

As per WHO, measles disease has not only become a serious threat in India but also in the world.

Written by Kinkini Gupta |Updated : December 7, 2022 11:48 PM IST

One of the biggest consequences of the pandemic was reduced access to regular and frequent healthcare. This lead to the lower uptake of immunizations for various deadly diseases like measles, rubella, polio, etc. Measles disease has especially become a worldwide threat recently. It claimed almost 18 lives in Maharashtra and it is still a threat in the state. It has apparently also become a major threat in the world because of which The World Health Organization (WHO) has considered it necessary to announce it as an, "imminent threat in every region of the world".

Why Has Measles Become A Global Threat?

According to the data presented by the WHO, in the year 2021 close to 40 million children missed taking at least one dose of the measles vaccine and as a consequence, it is affecting them today.

Measles disease is a respiratory viral disease whose transmission is very similar to COVID-19. The disease transmission is airborne and it can spread through aerosols and respiratory droplets. The main symptoms of this infection are however not like COVID except for high fever. Measles is also accompanied with rash and it can be itchy or painful. These are the symptoms of mild cases but it can also get severe like, encephalitis, pneumonia and blindness. Every year, there are approximately 128,000 deaths due to measles all around the world.

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Anti-Vaccine Advocacy Against Measles

People advocating to not take the vaccine has become a thing. This mostly happens due to false information, scare stories, rumors. For example, a former physician and anti-vaccine activist Andrew Wakefield made people believe that the MMR vaccine causes autism. Apparently, this belief still persists because of which people also got scared and stopped vaccinating their children. Misinformation since the start of the COVID pandemic has been extensive. And there is a risk of this misinformation further translating into greater levels of hesitancy and vaccine refusal for routine immunization.