Why measles are contagious

Researchers explain why the infectious disease of measles is so contagious

03/11/2011

Researchers at the Paul Ehrlich Institute (PEI), together with colleagues from the US, Canada, Singapore and France, have discovered why measles viruses are so contagious. For the first time, a detailed demonstration of the mechanisms that underlie the transmission of measles virus has been achieved.

Measles are considered to be highly infectious, but so far it has remained unclear why measles viruses can so easily pass from human to human compared to other pathogens. The scientists from the Paul Ehrlich Institute, which is also responsible for approving vaccines and medicines in Germany, were able to prove that measles viruses are particularly easy to transfer due to their location in the trachea. From this strategically favorable location, the viruses are thrown into the environment with tiny particles during the typical measles cough and then taken in by the other people, the researchers explained in the online edition of the specialist magazine „Nature“.

Transmission of measles viruses deciphered in detail
According to the scientists of the PEI it is „It is astonishing that so far it was not known in detail how the virus gets into the body.“ Although it has long been proven that the measles viruses use a special receptor to infect the cells of the respiratory tract and the infected cells then spread through the lymph nodes throughout the organism. But to infect more hosts, the viruses must settle again at the strategic location in the trachea. „But how the pathogens get back into the respiratory tract in order to finally take the path to the outside has remained a mystery“, explained the experts of the PEI. The researchers around Michael Mühlebach from the Paul Ehrlich Institute have now found out that the so-called transmembrane protein „Nectin-4“ the measles viruses make their way back into the trachea.

With measles virus against cancer?
Their findings could not only help to significantly reduce the spread of measles virus and improve the treatment of infectious disease, but also make progress in using the „Measles viruses in cancer therapy“ , PEI researchers said. American researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, USA, published a study in June suggesting that injecting attenuated measles virus directly into tumors significantly slowed the growth of lymph node carcinomas, and in some cases even made the tumors shrink.

Renaissance of the measles in Germany
The growing prevalence of measles viruses in Germany has recently caused increased media attention, not least because the Robert Koch Institute and the Professional Association of Paediatricians (BVKJ) had repeatedly denounced in their view, too low vaccination in the population. Thus, the number of measles infections has doubled compared to last year, the experts criticized. In 2010, a total of 780 measles infections were reported. This year, more than 1,500 diseases are currently registered. The health risk of a measles infection should not be underestimated, as the world's approximately 120,000 measles-related deaths per year illustrate, emphasized the researchers of the Paul Ehrlich Institute. (Fp)

Read about:
Measles increasingly common in adults
Germany as a measles exporter
First death toll from measles for years
WHO: Measles Increase in Europe
Measles also affects adults
The infectious disease measles spreads
Impfkritik: How useful are vaccinations?

Picture: Gerd Altmann