The measles rash appears as flat red spots, although raised bumps may sometimes be present. If bumps appear, they do not have fluid in them. The spots of the measles rash may begin to run together as the rash spreads.
Both chickenpox and measles are highly contagious, meaning that you can easily spread them to others. Chickenpox is spread through inhaling respiratory droplets that are generated when a sick person coughs or sneezes.
It can also be spread through contact with contaminated surfaces or with fluid from the ruptured blisters. Like chickenpox, measles can be spread through the air when a sick person coughs or sneezes as well as through contact with a surface or object that has been contaminated. Since both chickenpox and measles are caused by a viral infection, treatment is focused on easing symptoms until the infection clears.
Since the chickenpox rash can be very itchy, your doctor may prescribe an antihistamine to help with itching. These groups may be prescribed an antiviral medication, such as acyclovir, which can help to decrease the severity of the infection. If you do come down with measles or chicken pox, the disease may be milder.
Chickenpox and measles can be prevented through vaccination. Both vaccines are given in two doses. The first dose is given between 12 and 15 months of age, while the second dose is given between the ages of 4 and 6 years. This not only protects you from infection, but also helps to prevent chickenpox and measles from circulating within your community. A chickenpox infection typically lasts between 5 and 10 days. Chickenpox is typically mild, but can cause severe complications in at-risk groups.
Several countries in Northern Europe had also declared the disease eradicated. Over the next few decades, more of Europe, and then the US and Canada, joined them.
Data is spotty — this is before there was any international authority on infectious disease statistics worldwide — but it is estimated that 10 to 15 million people caught smallpox annually, with 5 million dying of it, during the first half of the 20th century. It was not until the s that a truly global eradication effort began to appear within reach, thanks to new postwar international institutions.
The World Health Organization WHO , founded in , led the charge and provided a framework for countries that were not always on friendly terms to collaborate on global health efforts. Even then, there were skeptics. After all, no disease had ever been eradicated before. There were billions of people in the world, under myriad governments, many of them in regions actively at war.
Global coordination on the scale eradication would demand was unprecedented. Plus, there had already been a failed attempt to eradicate malaria. The goal of eliminating every smallpox case in the world, rather than just suppressing the virus, sounded implausibly lofty.
But other advances had brought it within reach. Needle technology had improved, with new bifurcated needles making it possible to use less vaccine.
Overseas travel improved, which made it easier to ship vaccines and get public health workers where they were most needed, and provided impetus for worldwide eradication as it made it more likely that a smallpox outbreak anywhere in the world could spread. A outbreak in New York City, traced back to a traveler from Mexico , resulted in a frantic effort to vaccinate 6 million people in four weeks. Europe, Henderson says, repeatedly saw the virus reintroduced by travelers from Asia, with 23 distinct importations different occasions of someone bringing smallpox into the country in five years.
As Henderson and Foege detail in their books , there were extraordinary challenges that often looked utterly insurmountable in the quest to eradicate smallpox. In poor corners of the world, there were no roads or hospitals and no infrastructure to notify the WHO of a smallpox outbreak. Civil wars, famines, and refugee crises made disease surveillance and vaccination very difficult.
But other features of smallpox made it easier to eradicate than many other diseases. That meant that once it was destroyed in humans, it would be gone forever. And, once a person has survived it, they are immune for life. Only one vaccine is needed for immunity in almost all cases. Henderson calls the switch to ring vaccination a pivotal strategic change for the fight against smallpox.
Instead of fighting for percent vaccination, which was proving unachievable in low-income countries, it let public health teams focus their resources where they were needed most. As large parts of the world were declared smallpox-free, resources could be more intensively focused in the areas where outbreaks were still happening. Contact tracers tried to identify everyone exposed and figure out where the virus might have come from. Communities were swiftly vaccinated. Case numbers kept declining.
In , the world marked the last wild Variola major case, in Bangladesh. In , it marked the last wild Variola minor case, in Somalia. Doctors tracked down and vaccinated every potential contact of the case; none of them contracted the disease. Surveillance around the world found no more cases anywhere. It called on scientists and researchers from around the world, including collaborations between rival countries in the middle of the Cold War.
Wild polio has been eradicated in Africa and remains only in conflict-torn regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Why has it been so hard to build on our success with smallpox? One part of it is that many diseases present all the challenges that smallpox did — plus some additional ones. Some, like HIV or Covid, have asymptomatic transmission, which makes disease surveillance trickier.
Medical Review: E. This information does not replace the advice of a doctor. Healthwise, Incorporated, disclaims any warranty or liability for your use of this information. Your use of this information means that you agree to the Terms of Use. Learn how we develop our content. To learn more about Healthwise, visit Healthwise. Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated.
It looks like your browser does not have JavaScript enabled. Please turn on JavaScript and try again. Main Content. Important Phone Numbers.
0コメント