2024-02-16 11:00:19
Bad news from Berlin: More measles infections have been detected here again. The year is still young and there are already eight cases. A warning signal for the experts at the State Office for Health and Social Affairs (Lageso): The number is above the median from 2015 to 2019, when there were only five cases in total. And in the entire year of 2023, only a dozen people in the capital were sick with measles.
It fits with what the RKI has recorded, 45 cases for 2024, compared to 80 in the entire previous year. Figures from Europe as a whole complete the trend: Across the continent, the numbers have been rising at a remarkable rate since December. There were 2,361 cases in the entire year of 2023, and there were already 954 in the first six weeks of the year.
Source: Infographic WELT
The viruses are circulating more strongly than they have been in a long time, especially in Great Britain and Romania; these two countries are the epicenters of the current outbreak. Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides calls the situation “worrying”. Report from the European Health Authority (ECDC). A total of 40 of the 53 countries in the region are affected and the peak of the measles season will not come until spring.
Source: Infographic WELT/Felix Scharnowski
The member states are now expressly requested to close vaccination gaps. According to the paper, children between the ages of one and nine are at greatest risk; they are by far the most frequently affected.
The NHS also called on doctors to consider measles infection in patients with fever and rash, regardless of age. The truth is that thanks to the successful vaccination campaigns of the past few decades, the infectious disease has disappeared from the radar of many doctors. Most measles cases are likely to remain undetected – and therefore unisolated.
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Measles is so feared because, on the one hand hochansteckend are. A fleeting encounter is enough; more than 90 percent of all contacts become infected. The viruses spread via infectious droplets that are inhaled or lurking on surfaces. Measles viruses survive in the air for an impressively long time of two hours; hardly any other pathogen can keep up.
At the same time, it is not a harmless “childhood disease”; children in particular can die from it or suffer lifelong damage. The infection is particularly often life-threatening for infants who are not yet allowed to be vaccinated. What is feared is “acute post-infectious encephalitis”, an inflammation of the brain on the fourth to seventh day after contact with the virus, which begins with severe headaches. One in 1,000 infected people gets this condition, and one in ten to five dies from it.
And because there is no specific therapy against the measles viruses, which multiply in the brain, there is little that can be done about it, even in the hospital. One in three affected people will have a permanent disability. According to the ECDC, seven people have died in the current outbreak, four infants under one year old and two adults in Romania, one adult in Ireland.
Compulsory measles vaccination for children does not solve the problem
A normal measles infection begins with itchy eyes, a runny nose and a cough, and white spots on the oral mucosa are also typical. From the second day onwards, the characteristic red-brown, large, velvety rash appears on the body, face and behind the ears. Formerly infected people can still have a weakened immune system for years after the infection and are more susceptible to pneumonia or diarrhea, among other things. Anyone who survives the infection well is protected against measles for life
Vaccination also prevents death and permanent damage. Measles vaccination has been compulsory in this country since March 2020; parents must present their children’s vaccination certificate in daycare centers and schools. At least unvaccinated people can be excluded from attending daycare, and parents face a fine of up to 2,500 euros. It is not known how often penalties have been imposed.
The current report also shows that vaccination rates across Europe have already fallen sharply, with only every second country achieving the 95 percent vaccination coverage deemed necessary by immunologists. Germany is one of them. In this area, those who are vaccinated also protect those who cannot receive immunization due to underlying illnesses, for example.
Since measles has become rare thanks to the vaccination campaigns and most people have not had any contact with the virus, even adults cannot feel safe without vaccination. This is what the Lageso report from Berlin shows. A particularly serious case is highlighted there that had to be treated in the clinic, “between 20 and 30 years old, unvaccinated”.
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The measles vaccine has fallen into disrepute in vaccination-skeptical circles because it is said to cause autism. The so-called Wakefield study from 1998, to which this claim is based, was published in the renowned… The Lancet Magazine published, but is based on manipulated data, It was therefore withdrawn in 2010. It still has an effect on many people, with one in five US citizens believing that there is this negative effect of measles vaccines.
But there is another problem, not with the vaccinations, with the circulating viruses. This is what new data from Switzerland, which can also be found at the ECDC, reveals: The measles viruses, which were always considered comparatively stable, now appear to be changing in such a way that laboratory evidence is no longer reliable. These viruses also have RNA, which is identified in PCR tests.
The virology laboratory at Geneva University Hospital now reports variants, which have changed precisely in the places in the genome that these tests have previously used. The team led by infectious disease doctor Manuel Schibler recommends that all colleagues continue to monitor this carefully.
As a second line of safety, most laboratories also look for specific antibodies in the blood; these tests are currently not affected by the evolution of viruses.
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