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The number of measles cases worldwide is set to nearly double between 2022 and 2023, researchers say, challenging efforts to achieve and maintain elimination levels in many countries.
In the year By 2022, there will be 171,153 cases worldwide, said Dr. Patrick O'Connor of the World Health Organization. Research Saturday at the ESCMID Global Congress in Barcelona. Provisional data show 321,582 cases for 2023 and more than 94,000 cases in 2024, although the number is likely to be higher.
About half of the reported cases this year have occurred in the WHO European Region, with the highest numbers in Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan and Yemen.
The U.S. has reported 128 measles cases in 20 states this year, according to a report Friday. US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This is the highest number since 2019.
Measles was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000, “There is no known measles in the country and new cases are found only when a person contracts measles abroad and returns,” the CDC says. However, the rapid increase in cases this year poses a threat to the eradication of the disease, the agency said.
Measles a Very contagious Airborne disease. It can cause serious health consequences or even death, especially for young and unvaccinated children.
Common symptoms may include fever, cough, runny nose, watery eyes, and a rash of red spots. About 1 in 5 unvaccinated people in the US will be hospitalized if they get measles, according to the CDC. About 1 in 20 children will develop measles pneumonia, while others may develop a dangerous inflammation of the brain called encephalitis. Up to 3 in 1,000 children who contract measles may die from respiratory and neurological complications.
It can also lead to “immune amnesia,” which increases people's susceptibility to other infections for weeks to years.
O'Connor said Saturday that the measles vaccine could prevent an estimated 57 million deaths between 2000 and 2022.
In America, CDC Children between 12 and 15 months of age should receive their first dose of measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine. Children receive a second vaccination between 4 and 6 years of age.
The vaccine is considered very effective. One dose is 93% effective in measles and two doses are 97% effective. Vaccinated people can still get sick, but it doesn't happen often, and usually, it's a mild infection.
The US has a target vaccination rate of 95%, but coverage among preschoolers has fallen below recent years. In the 2022-23 school year, Ex 93.1% of kindergartens About 250,000 people in the US have completed their MMR vaccine series and are at risk.
Measles is “a crisis of many crises,” O'Connor said in a speech Saturday, with 45 percent of outbreaks occurring in conflict-affected and vulnerable countries.
“In the past 20 years, significant progress has been made in eliminating measles and mumps,” he said in a news release. “To consolidate and sustain those gains, we must ensure high, consistent and equitable routine vaccination coverage; and robust access and rapid outbreak response.”