We have been saying it for some time. Measles is a disease in extinction, that is, in the process of ending it, thanks to hygiene, nutrition (although lately we are nourishing ourselves by pulling badly) and above all to vaccines, which resists more and more because there are still many people without vaccinations.
Outbreaks in recent years are normal, because it is a contagious disease, and therefore, it is normal for them to exist until their extinction, but what is not normal is that they are so numerous outbreaks that affect so many people.
USA alert of it: there are more and more cases of measles. And it is that until April 18 they had 129 cases in outbreaks in 13 states, mostly in unvaccinated people, with the highest number of cases in the first four months of the year since 1996.
Why the vaccine is important
The anti-vaccine current insists that the vaccine has had nothing to do with the reduction in measles cases since it came into force and began to be administered to the population. Nothing is further from reality, since it is estimated that vaccines have prevented (and I speak of all diseases) 732,000 deaths, 21 million hospitalizations and 322 million diseases among American children born in the last 20 years.
Measles figures have only declined since the inclusion of the vaccine, with various outbreaks and rebounds from time to time, but always with a downward trend. In recent years there have been new outbreaks that, as I say, are considered normal and logical, but not so much because of the number of people affected, too high.
Some outbreaks are generated outside the country
It happens in the USA. And it happens in Spain. It is not the main cause, but it is one of the causes. Someone comes from outside with measles and, being a very contagious disease, soon finds unvaccinated people and children to be infected, which again can spread to other people.
Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), says the following:
Measles is still very common in many parts of the world ... Globally, about 20 million people get measles and 122,000 die each year from the disease ... A single undiagnosed case in a hospital could result in dozens of secondary cases.
More cases
It is said that 129 cases of measles have been declared so far this year. Throughout 2013, there were 189 total cases and 220 in 2011, when the highest point of an outbreak was reached that also affected our country. The trend should be downward, since once the outbreak has passed, among vaccinated and affected people, the disease has more difficulty finding "contagible" people. However, as many people remain unvaccinated, and more and more children, disease control seems impossible.
Without fear of disease
Measles is not the worst disease in the world, but it cannot be considered benign either. It is very contagious, spreads easily and can have serious complications. The problem is that it sounds distant, like childhood, and many people say that "I spent it and here I am." The truth is that no, not all of us spend it, because many are already vaccinated (or not) and what is worse, not everyone who passed it is here. Some died and we don't consider them.
Before 1963, measles caused about 3 million cases a year in the United States. It caused 48,000 hospitalizations and 500 deaths. At that time there was no need to convince anyone of the danger of the disease, everyone wanted to get vaccinated. Now it seems that it is necessary for the disease to spread again and for people to die again so that people take measles seriously again.
The culture of fear?
And this is where the anti-vaccines say that "they are already, as always, trying to instill fear." And it is true. But not because it is intended to scare because yes so that people get vaccinated, but because measles is a disease that we should fear. As long as we are not afraid of him, as long as we have lost his respect, he will continue to roam freely, making his own.
It is what there is and it is a pity, because if it were a disease that one takes, suffers and suffers it, because one day he decided to take a risk, many of us care little. The problem is that one takes it, suffers it, suffers it, but also spreads it to other vaccinated and unvaccinated people (especially the second ones), and most of the time it's about children that, poor people, they have not made any decision: either they are not vaccinated because their parents do not want or are not vaccinated because they are still small to receive the first dose, which is administered at twelve months.
