A school-age child in Los Angeles County died of rare measles complications after contracting the disease in infancy, the county’s public health department announced Thursday.
This child – not old enough to get vaccinated when infected – died of subacute sclerosis encephaloencephalomyosis, a fatal progressive brain disease, among American doctors, about 1,000 of 10,000 of 10,000 of 10,000 of 1,000 of 1,000 of 1,000 of 1,000 of 1,000 of 1,000 of 1,000 of 1,000 of 1,000 of 1,000 of 1,000 of 1,000 of 1,000 of 1,000 of 1,000 of 1,000 of 1,000 of 1,000 of 1,000 of 1,000 of 1,000 of 1,000 of 1,000 of 1,000 of 1,000 of 1 1 in 600 children Who has measles in the head when infancy.
The disease usually develops two to ten years after the initial infection, and even in the case of this child, the patient recovers from measles. The disease begins with epilepsy, cognitive decline, and involuntary muscle spasms, and develops into dementia, coma and eventually death.
“Most pediatricians in the United States have never seen a child with SSPE because we have been vaccinating measles for decades.” Dr. Adam Ratner saysa New York-based pediatric infectious disease expert and author of the book: “Boosters: Emergency Lessons for Measles and an Uncertain Future for Child Health.”
A spokesman said the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health was unable to release more details about the age, gender or location of children due to patient privacy laws.
The department can only confirm that children have obtained measles before they qualify for MMR vaccination.
“This case is a painful reminder of the dangers of measles, especially for our most vulnerable community members,” County health official Dr. Muntu Davis said in a statement. “Babies too young to get vaccinated rely on us all to help protect them through community immunity.”
Children usually receive the first MMR dose at 12 to 15 months of age, while the second dose is between 4 and 6 years of age.
Early doses of 6 to 11 months are recommended in infants traveling internationally or international hubs. Babies under 6 months old are too young to accept MMR shooting. According to the guide From the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Very young babies rely on antibodies and herd immunity obtained during pregnancy to protect them from measles, and in the United States, about 400 children died each year before the introduction of the combined MMR vaccine in 1971.
Measles was “eliminated” in 2000, meaning the disease is rare and if the wrong cases are present, the immunity is wide enough to prevent local transmission.
For 25 years, American parents have been able to believe that herd immunity will protect babies from measles until they are old enough to get vaccinated.
Recent deaths may indicate that social contracts are beginning to be violated.
Children’s immunity rates have been slow but have steadily declined across the country, from 95% to below 93% before the common pandemic In the 2023-24 school year.
In California, one of the five U.S. states prohibit all non-medical vaccine tax exemptions, i.e. vaccination The rate for that year was 96.2%. So is California Only one of 10 states Since the measles vaccination rate in kindergartens exceeds the threshold of 95%, experts say it is necessary to gain immunity from the herd.
But if the current vaccination rate stabilizes over the next few decades, measles will become the U.S. again within 25 years, two Stanford researchers found in a study Published earlier this year.
“Now, we really should try to increase the vaccination rate.” Mathew KiangAn assistant professor of epidemiology and population health told The New York Times in April. “If we just keep them the way they are, bad things will happen in about twenty years.”
Times worker Jenny Gold contributed to the report.
