When healthy people get it, they put more vulnerable people at risk of going blind and dying.
Measles: we’re seeing a resurgence of the illness all over the news. The latest outbreak is in Los Angeles, where hundreds of students and staff are now being quarantined, amid fears the illness will spread even further.
How did we get into this mess? According to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, back in 2000 measles was declared eliminated in the United States. This means there was no sustained transmission of the virus in the country, for twelve months.
So, what’s the big deal with the illness making a comeback?
Experts say that most people will no doubt recover from it without any complications within about a week. No biggie.
Related: This is How Much Sugar You Should Have. Max, Each Day
For others, however, coming in contact with the illness puts them in grave danger. And measles is highly contagious so, when healthy people get the measles and spread it around, they’re inadvertently putting the most vulnerable in a crazy state of risk. Pretty unfair.
The most vulnerable includes infants, the elderly and people going through things like cancer treatment, which lowers their immune system or wipes it out altogether. For these groups the complications that can come with measles can be severe. This includes brain inflammation, blindness and death.
Measles still kills more than 100,000 people around the globe each year.
There’s a simple way to avoid all this: get vaccinated.
