First death toll from measles for years

Death by measles: Pediatricians alerted

02/05/2011

Health authorities have been reporting a dramatic increase in measles diseases for weeks, especially in Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria. Now that it has become known that a 26-year-old patient in a clinic in Munich at the end of March on the consequences of measles disease has died, was also the professional association of pediatricians (BVKJ) in Bavaria alarmed.

The massive spread of the infectious disease measles in the past weeks, was already a clear sign for the low vaccination quotas in the population, according to estimates by the State Health Office of Baden-Württemberg. The health authorities consistently criticized the careless handling of the measles vaccinations. Now Sean Monks, spokesman for the Bavarian Professional Association of Paediatricians (BVKJ), gave in and emphasized to the news agency „DAPD“: „The fact that a person dies of measles in Germany is a scandal.“

Measles especially dangerous for people with pre-existing conditions
Measles are a highly contagious infectious disease that can lead to serious health problems, especially in adults with pre-existing conditions. However, measles vaccinations have been able to reduce the disease relatively successfully, with the result that the World Health Organization (WHO) has already proclaimed the goal of measles in Germany by 2010 „eliminate“, Sean Monks explained. However, as it became apparent that this target was not achievable within the given timeframe, WHO had to postpone the deadline to 2015. However, the current wave of measles disease shows that the measles pathogens are more prevalent in the unprotected population than was thought until recently. The death of the 26-year-old patient in a Munich clinic not only shows how dangerous measles diseases can be, especially in people with previous illnesses, but also throws an unfavorable light on the vaccination practice of the attending clinic staff, according to the BVKJ. For the patient, who was being treated for a tumor disease, had infected not only his roommate but also clinical staff with measles in the Munich hospital, the BVKJ said, citing the health department Weilheim.

Unprotected clinic staff according to BVKJ unacceptable
According to the BVKJ, the infection of hospital staff and the associated transmission risk is an alarming signal for the careless handling of measles vaccinations. „That there are unvaccinated staff in the hospital is unacceptable“, stressed Martin Terhardt of the BVKJ, member of the Vaccination Commission of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). Also, Sean Monks explained, „the case shows that also the nursing staff is not sufficiently vaccinated.“ This is allowed „not be at all“, Monks criticized. Although the death of the 26-year-old is the first measles death in years, but the spread of viruses in the unprotected population have assumed alarming proportions. Due to the considerable risk of infection, especially in medical practices, clinics, nursing and community facilities, a comprehensive vaccination protection of the staff should be self-evident, since the patients accommodated here often suffer from pre-existing conditions in which a measles infection would pose a massive health risk. According to the BVKJ, clinics should ideally already take care of the hiring of the personnel that a vaccination protection exists.

Measles transmission by droplet infection
The transmission of measles viruses is usually done by the so-called droplet infection, in which the viruses are transmitted by excreted aerosols through the air. Measles are considered highly contagious and 95 percent of those who do not have protective antibodies, get sick in contact with the virus after seven to eighteen days, said a spokesman for the State Health Office of Baden-Württemberg earlier this month. Symptoms of measles disease include fever, headache, conjunctivitis, runny nose and cough, and the typical spotty-tuberous reddish rash (measles rash). After surviving illness, those affected are immune to measles for a lifetime. (Fp)

Read about measles:
WHO: Measles Increase in Europe
Measles also affects adults
The infectious disease measles spreads
Impfkritik: How useful are vaccinations?

Picture: Gerd Altmann