New research has found that measles has a devastating effect on the body’s immune system by causing ‘immune amnesia’. In other words, the measles virus makes the body ‘forget’ how to fight infections that it once knew how to defeat.

These findings further highlight the importance of vaccination.

Measles is a viral infection that initially causes a runny nose, sneezing and fever. After a few days, a rash develops on the face and spreads across the body. Even after recovery, measles can leave the child deaf or with an intellectual disability.

Measles is a disease that is spread through airborne infection. This means that if a person infected with the virus sneezes or coughs, the surrounding air gets contaminated. Surrounding people can be infected through this air or by touching an infected surface, and then touching their eyes, noses or mouths. Measles has the potential to infect around 90% of the people close to the infected person if they aren’t vaccinated.

The measles virus is responsible for more than 100,000 deaths worldwide each year.

Researchers at Harvard Medical School studied 77 unvaccinated children before and two months after natural measles virus infection. They found that measles virus caused an average reduction of 20% of antibodies across individuals. One child had lost 73% of these types of antibodies. This effect was not seen in individuals that were vaccinated against measles (Read more).

Antibodies are tiny proteins in the body that stick to foreign invaders like viruses. The body has special immune cells in the body that produce a specific type of antibody that it had fought before. These cells are called memory B-cells. The measles virus infects and destroy these cells causing ‘immune amnesia’. 

With vaccination rates falling all over the world, and having recent outbreaks of previously eradicated diseases like measles, experts say that vaccination even more important now.

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