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Measles Could Ravage West African Countries Affected By Ebola

A Liberian woman holds up a pamphlet with guidance on how to prevent the Ebola virus from spreading CREDIT: (AP PHOTO/ABBAS DULLEH
A Liberian woman holds up a pamphlet with guidance on how to prevent the Ebola virus from spreading CREDIT: (AP PHOTO/ABBAS DULLEH

More than 200,000 children in West Africa could get the measles because hospitals in the region haven’t been able to keep up with vaccinations in the wake of the worst Ebola outbreak in history, researchers recently confirmed. Their study, published in the journal Science, said that up toward 16,000 youngsters could succumb to the preventable viral disease within the next 18 months.

Measles, an infectious viral disease, causes fever and skin rashes, particularly among children. Other symptoms include pneumonia, fatal brain swelling, blindness and hearing loss. The virus’ particles can remain infectious on surfaces for up to two hours and spread rapidly, a reality that often compels calls for 90 percent of children to be vaccinated before their first birthday to protect herd immunity.

Experts say that flare-ups of measles and other preventable disease are to be expected during prolonged disruptions to health care systems, especially those that that have initially not been up to par. Key causes include the threat of violence, a dearth of vaccines, and the burden of deaths and sicknesses on weakened health care systems. Ebola — which has infected 24,000 people in West Africa, more than 10,000 of whom have died — also threatens progress made against malaria in the region.

“The large numbers we project sound pretty bad but they’re not unprecedented,” lead author Justin Lessler, assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told the AFP. “Between 2010 and 2013, a measles outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo resulted in 294,000 cases and over 5,000 deaths,” Lessler said.

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Measles affects more than 20 million people each year, according to data collected by the World Health Organization. More than 95 percent of the deaths occur in countries with low per capita incomes and weak health infrastructures. Since 2000, annual measles-related deaths in West Africa have dropped by 300,000. Despite those victories, researchers noted that vaccinations for other viruses plummeted in the region, which could potentially set back years of progress in the region.

In the Johns Hopkins University report, Lessler and his colleagues proposed a mass vaccination campaign across the region to curb the threats of measles, polio, and whooping. Other tactics they suggested include the delivery of anti-Malaria bed netting and distribution of Vitamin A, which fosters growth and development in children.

If implemented, this campaign could help more than 1.2 million West African children between the ages of nine months and five years old whose lives could be at stake. UNICEF made a similar push for mass vaccinations in Uganda during the turn of the century with the goal of reaching 1 million children in the country. After an unprecedented measles outbreak ravaged much of China in the late-1990s, the World Health Organization implemented a campaign of its own with the goal of reaching all Chinese children under the age of 19.

“Coordinated campaigns across the three Ebola-affected countries (and possibly neighboring countries) targeting those children who likely missed critical routine vaccinations during the Ebola epidemic with measles and polio vaccines, and potentially other life-saving childhood vaccines, could thwart a second public health disaster,” the report read.

Measles hasn’t only ravaged much of the Third World. The virus has some parts of the United States under siege. Since last December, more than 140 cases in seven states have been reported. Public health officials speculate that the outbreak started at a Disney amusement park in California. This ongoing case — which some speculate started with unvaccinated children — has sparked a discussion about what some consider the perils of ideological exemptions for vaccines.