A school-age child has died from a rare complication of measles contracted in infancy, Los Angeles County health officials said Thursday.
The child, who had been too young to be vaccinated when they were infected by the virus, died of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, according to the county health department. The incurable disorder causes progressive brain damage and is nearly universally fatal.
About 1 in 10,000 people who get measles develops the disorder, but the risk is 1 in 600 for infants.
Measles is particularly dangerous and much more malignant than other diseases. Those that cannot be vaccinated rely on herd immunity for indirect protection. Measles requires a threshold of about 95% for effective herd immunity, and 90% is the critical threshold for it to be basically totally ineffective.
Measles is one of the most contagious diseases on the planet. It is airborns, lasts for hours on surfaces, has a 90% infection rate among those unvaccinated, and is contagious for 4-5 days both before and after physical symptoms develop.
The US is now down to about a 91% vaccination rate average thanks to anti-vaxxers. Meaning there are many places under that critical threshold where herd immunity effectively no longer exists. With anyone that cannot be vaccinated for whatever reason forced to roll the dice thanks to the idiots in society.
measles also causes orchitis, which can infertility in me, albiet temporarily. another nasty virus is chickenpox, which is severe in adults and can cause severe infection as well, instead of itchy poxes of children, its more likely to cause necrotic poxes.