NBC News
A school -age child of Los Angeles died because of a rare complication of measles, years after being infected by the virus.
The Los Angeles County Health Department announced death this Thursday, as part of a warning to residents about the importance of vaccinating.
The department said the child contracted the virus when he was a baby, before he could receive his first measles vaccine, papers and rubella (MMR, in English). The first dose should be administered to babies between 12 and 15 months, followed by a second between 4 and 6 years.
The boy recovered, but years later he developed a rare progressive brain disorder known as Subacute Sclerosante Panencephalitis (SSPE, in English), according to the department. This condition may appear in people who have had measles at an early age, usually between 2 and 10 years after the initial infection.
“This case is a painful reminder of how dangerous measles can be, especially for the most vulnerable members of our community,” said Dr. Muntu Davis, head of Health of Los Angeles County, in a press release.
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“Vaccination not only serves to protect oneself, but also to protect the family, neighbors and, especially, children who are too young to get vaccinated,” he added.
Approximately 1 in 10,000 people with measles later develop SSPE, but among those infected during childhood, the risk is approximately 1 in 600, according to the Los Angeles Department of Health.
The disease affects the central nervous system, so people may suffer seizures or lose the ability to walk before falling into a coma or in a vegetative state. There is no known cure or an effective treatment for this disease, and most patients die between one and three years after diagnosis.
Nationally, measles vaccination rates have descended in recent years. Less than 93% of childhood garden children in the United States received the two recommended doses during the 2023-24 school year (usually a 95% rate is needed to stop the propagation).
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This year the worst outbreak has been recorded since the United States eradicated the disease in 2000. The centers for disease control and prevention (CDC) have registered 1,454 cases since the beginning of the year, which exceeds the previous record of 2019, driven by an outbreak in the Orthodox Jewish communities of New York, with low vaccination fees.
The high number of cases of this year was largely due to an outbreak in a Mennonite community of western Texas, which also has low vaccination rates. Two non -vaccinated children of the community died of measles at the beginning of the year, as well as an adult not vaccinated in New Mexico, which meant the first measles deaths in the country in a decade.
The Texas Department of Health declared the end of the outbreak in western Texas in mid -August, and weekly cases in the United States have decreased in general since then. However, there are still outbreaks, including one in an event of a Utah high school, which makes measles a persistent threat to unaccoured people.
Two doses of the triple viral vaccine are effective in 97% against measles and usually offer life protection.
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Public health experts claim that the challenge of controlling measles this year has been aggravated by the misinformation of the Secretary of Health, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Although Kennedy has asked the population to vaccine with the triple viral, he has falsely affirmed that the immunity of the vaccine decreases rapid demonstrate, such as steroids or antibiotics.
Kennedy has also highlighted the role of vitamin A during Texas outbreak, although it is not a treatment for the disease and it is not clear what benefits for patients outside developing countries, where vitamin A deficiency is common. An excess of this vitamin can also be detrimental: doctors from western Texas reported earlier this year that some unaccinated patients showed signs of liver damage by taking vitamin A in excess.
