Measles is highly contagious and dangerous, causing severe illness and long-term complications despite vaccination efforts declining globally.
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Measles is a highly contagious virus that can be fatal, killing one to three children per thousand infected. Long-term complications include weakened immune systems and rare cases where the virus hides in the nervous system, causing deadly illness years later. Measles can also cause severe health issues like blindness or hearing loss, with one in five infected children requiring hospitalization and one in twenty developing pneumonia, a leading cause of death. Even mild cases can lead to long-term effects because the virus targets immune cells, leaving individuals susceptible to many infections afterward. About one in a thousand measles cases leads to brain swelling or inflammation, which can cause seizures and permanent damage; in some instances, the virus remains dormant in the nervous system for years before causing progressive neurological disorders leading to coma and death. The risk of SSPE is highest in children under two, at about one in a thousand, significantly higher than vaccine side effects. Alarmingly, measles cases have risen sharply in Europe in 2024 compared to 2023, with over half of the sick being under five years old. Declining vaccination rates, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, are contributing to this resurgence. While herd immunity requires at least 95% vaccination, regional and global rates have dropped due to misinformation, limited access, and conflicts. In Poland, despite measles being mandatory, there is a worrying downward trend in vaccination coverage for both primary and booster doses across different years and regions. Despite some localized outbreaks, experts suggest that while herd immunity may not be entirely lost nationally, geographically dispersed clusters of infection are emerging due to uneven vaccination levels.
