Odra can damage the immune system for years

As more cases of measles occur in the whole country, doctors say that they are afraid that infected may be threatened with long -term health complications.

Odra’s fight sends the immune system to shock, breaking critical cells that aid our bodies react to threats. This can make people extremely susceptible to other pathogens a few weeks after infection.

The virus also attacks the immune system memory cells. These cells remember and recognize the pathogens that you met during life and protect against them, said Dr. Michael Mina, a former professor of epidemiology at Harvard Th Chan School of Public Health, who studied measles and immunity. Scientists call this phenomenon “immune amnesia”.

Dr. Mina said that everyone who got diseased from the Oder will experience a certain level of immune amnesia. This happens at the spectrum. He said that for some people this may mean that the descent with flu would keep them in bed for an extra day or two. But others may lose much more resistance and seriously get the viruses they encounter. This immune amnesia can last about three years.

“The real problem is that you will not only get measles and get diseased, but in the next few years your child will be very vulnerable to many other things,” said Dr. Aaron Milstone, a specialist in pediatric infectious diseases at the center of children Johns Hopkins.

Odra can also cause earnest, long -term complications. About one out of 1000 children who develop measles will experience brain edema, which can cause hearing and sight loss, intellectual disability and lasting brain damage. And people of all ages who are reduced immunity are more exposed to development A specific type of brain swelling This can happen even a year after recovery, said Dr. Milstone.

In extremely scarce cases, adults and children develop subacute sclerosis of Pancephalic, a deadly disease of the central nervous system. This disease that can cause convulsions usually occurs from seven to 10 years after recovering the patient from the Oder. There is no cure. By Some estimates, About four to eleven out of 100,000 measles leads to the state. The risk is slightly higher among children infected under 5 years of age.

About one out of 20 Odra children develop pneumonia. Pulmonary infection is the most common cause of death in the Odra children. Even in children who are experiencing, a severe case of pneumonia can disturb the lung function in the long run, said Saad Omer, a public health professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. The disease can entertain the lungs, which makes it tough to breathe properly. Children who develop pneumonia can also develop asthma and chronic obstructive lung disease as adults more often.

Most of the Odra cases in the United States this year were among children. But adults are also susceptible to long -term effects and severe infections.

In addition to people who are reduced immunity, adults over the age of 20 and children under 5 are aged high risk According to Odra complications, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Odra is also risky for pregnant women who are more likely Stay hospitalized and develop pneumonia. Pregnant women are also increased risk of miscarriage, premature delivery and childbirth.

Dr. Walter Orelstein, a professor at the University of Emory University, a professor at the University of Emory University and former director of the national vaccination program at CDC said that vaccine vaccines provide defense against virus against a virus virus, protects them from both brief -term and long -term risk.

“It’s about protecting the community, not just individual protection,” he said.