Measles Vaccine News: Deaths From Other Infectious Diseases Reduced in Children With Vax

The measles vaccine provides more benefits aside from protecting against the contagious childhood disease.

A new research published in Science Translational Medicine showed that getting vaccinated from measles also makes the body resistant to other diseases such as pneumonia, sepsis, and tuberculosis.

"Immune amnesia" is the phenomenon when the body recalls how to eradicate similar pathogens after having the measles infection wipe out the cells from the individual's immune system, according to Reuters. The scientists were able to find out in their research based on the collected data of children from the United States, Denmark, Wales, and England that the damage from the measles infection continues on a 28-month average.

Without the immune memory, children infected with the measles have an increased mortality risk from other infections such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, and other infectious illnesses.

"The work demonstrates that measles may have long-term insidious immunologic effects on the immune system that place children at risk for years following infection," according to Michael Mina, one of the authors of the study and an immunologist from Princeton University.

"The work also demonstrates that, in these highly developed countries prior to the introduction of measles vaccine, measles may have been implicated in over 50 percent of all childhood infectious disease deaths."

According to WebMD, the study only demonstrates the association of measles infection to higher risks for other diseases. The research explained why measles vaccine was able to prevent more deaths from measles and other infectious diseases.

"It's just one more level of evidence to show how important measles vaccination has been, in terms of global health," Mina said. "No other public health intervention since piped water that has led to such reductions in childhood mortality."

"Our work reiterates the true importance of preserving high levels of measles vaccine coverage as the consequences of measles infections may be much more devastating than is readily observable," he added.

This year, a measles outbreak in the United States affected more than a hundred people and its spread began at a theme park located in southern California. Health officials said that the disease was caused by people who are against anti-vaccination.

Dr. William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine believes that some parents are misinformed about the vaccine. He said, via WebMD, that they "do not understand the devastating impact that measles can have on a child's long-term health."

"The underlying bad effects of measles are more than meets the eye," Mina said. "There's this misperception that measles is some benign infection. Our data really suggest that under the hood there's this much more devastating effect."