US, North America At the Risk Losing Measles Elimination Status, UN Agency Warns; Here's Why

With measles outbreaks spreading across North America, there is a considerable threat to the region’s status of having officially eliminated the virus, officials from the Pan-American Health Organization warned. The body said the current situation has undone a hard-fought victory to wipe out community transmission. The UN agency pointed to a 4.5-times increase in reported measles cases this year across North and South America, compared to the same period last year.

In the US states of Texas and New Mexico, at present, nearly 200 cases have been reported since an outbreak in late January. Also, more than 97 per cent of cases across the region so far this year have been in the US or Canada. A few cases have also been reported in Mexico and Argentina, according to the health agency.

"The risk of outbreaks has increased, given the increase in measles cases worldwide, coupled with factors such as low coverage of the first and second doses of measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine," PAHO, the World Health Organization's regional office for the Americas, said in a report.

PAHO said a few other factors that are driving the spread include increased movement of people around the Americas and an uptick in dengue - a mosquito-borne viral infection that has similar symptoms as measles.

According to the World Health Organization, the US had achieved complete elimination of the highly contagious disease in 2000 – after reporting a full year of no endemic spread of the virus. Both North and South America were declared free of measles in 2016 - making the Americas the first region to reach this milestone in the world.

Measles elimination, according to experts, is defined as proof of no endemic spread of the highly contagious virus within an area for at least 12 months. However, a continuous chain of transmission for at least a year would reverse that goal.

Even though hundreds of measles cases are reported across the US every year, many of these are from short-lived outbreaks which are due to children not being vaccinated. The last large outbreak was in Illinois last year, in migrant shelters.

Measles, also known as rubella, causes widespread rash and flu-like symptoms. But the condition is not just a rash - as it can make you severely ill and lead to life-threatening complications like brain inflammation and pneumonia.

It can also make you more likely to get sick with other infections.

A few signs and symptoms of measles include:

• High fever
• Barky cough
• Red or bloodshot eyes
• Runny nose
• Fatigue and tiredness
• Red spots with white centers in your mouth
• Rashes
• Diarrhoea and vomiting
• Sore throat
• Muscle pain
• Headaches

According to doctors, measles symptoms do not appear all at once. A fever, cough, runny nose, and red eyes may appear first. After that, spots might appear two to three days later and fade when the rash begins.

The rash appears three to five days after your initial symptoms start. A high fever may develop with the rash.

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