Recent measles outbreaks have many families concerned. Most of the people who have gotten sick were not vaccinated against measles, a stark reminder of the importance of making sure your children are fully vaccinated.

Here are answers to questions that many parents have about measles outbreaks.

I thought measles was a mild illness, so why the alarm now?

Measles was once a common childhood disease and almost an expected part of growing up. While most children recovered from the measles without problems, many others did not. In some children, the infection caused pneumonia and in a few, encephalitis (infection of the brain) and even death.

Before the measles vaccine was available in the U.S., every year an average of 450 people died from measles; most of them were previously healthy children.

Thanks to the success of the measles vaccine, we can now protect children from measles. However, in recent years some parents have refused or delayed vaccinating their children out of fear or misinformation about the safety of the measles vaccine. This means there are more unvaccinated children, teens, and adults in our communities…

 

Content Source:https://www.healthychildren.org/