5 Things To Know About Measles And How To Prevent It

The small city of Kabankalan in Negros Occidental was in the news recently, after its health office declared a measles outbreak in the city. Kabankalan joins three other cities: Taguig City, Davao City, and Zamboanga as places where measles outbreaks have been declared.

As the public deals with the news about the Dengvaxia controversy, the Department of Health cites the scare caused a decline in immunization rates in the country. According to Sec. Francisco Duque III as reported by the Inquirer, more and more parents are not bringing their kids to the health centers to be immunized. He said that this misplaced distrust of vaccines may result to such outbreaks.

Measles: 5 Things To Know About The Disease

1. Measles is a serious, infectious disease caused by a virus. It is highly contagious and attacks the respiratory tract first. It then spreads to other parts of the body and causes rashes. The first symptoms usually are a high fever that that lasts for up to 7 days, a runny nose, a cough, red and watery eyes.

2. Measles remains to be the leading cause of death for children under 5 years old, globally. Severe cases that lead to death usually involves complications such as pneunomia, blindness, encephalitis, and severe diarrhea and dehydration. Serious complications usually occur in children under 5 years old, or adults over 30 years old.

3. In the Philippines, DOH had a target to eradicate the disease by 2017. Because measles is a vaccine-preventable disease, immunization is the best protection against it. However, the Dengvaxia scare has resulted in a significant drop in immunization rates nationwide, from the ideal 85 to 90%, to a low of 60% as of Feb. 2018.

4. If you live anywhere near the outbreak areas, you must exercise caution and not have direct contact with infected persons. Those infected must be quarantined to prevent the spread. Measles can be passed on through sneezing, coughing and contact with an infected person. The virus remains active in the air and infected surfaces for up to 2 hours. Hand washing and disinfecting is important.

5. Children and even adults in outbreak areas are immediately given the measles vaccine. This also applies to children who have been given the vaccine before.