Birmingham Children’s Hospital, England, is currently facing a large measles outbreak. More than 50 children were hospitalized in the past month, the highest number recorded in recent years. Between In children under five years of age, the infection appears to spread more quickly, with 40% of children who test positive requiring hospital treatment.

According to the latest data from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), there were 1,603 suspected cases of measles in 2023, more than double the number in 2022 (735) and four times the number in 2021 (360).

This increase is due to very low vaccination rates among children in most countries. According to the National Health Service in England, in December 2022 the figure triple virus vaccination (against measles, mumps and rubella) in the Birmingham area is about 83%. To optimally protect the population, a protection level of at least 95% is essential.

A few weeks ago, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued an alarming warning about the disproportionate increase in measles cases in Europe. In that period Between January and October 2023, more than 30,000 cases of this dangerous disease were recorded, a figure that far exceeds (more than 30 times) the figure for 2022. The agency estimates that more than 1.8 million babies in Europe did not follow their vaccination guidelines during 2020 and 2022.

“Measles is a virus which, apart from having a direct impact that can cause complications in children (encephalitis in one in 1,000), also has an indirect impact and causes complications. ‘immune amnesia’, Explain Jose Gomez Rial, head of the Immunology Service of the Santiago de Compostela Clinical Hospital, on the social network X. “It infects the memory cells of our immune system and ‘resets’ most of the memory the individual has acquired so far, which can take up to 3 years to recover.”

The immunologist explained that, after the start of the measles vaccination campaign, it was observed that in addition to the decrease in the death rate due to measles, the death rate due to other causes also decreased, without being able to explain properly what the cause was. Thanks to the work of epidemiologist and immunologist Michael Mina and his team, the reason was discovered: the virus infects the memory cells of the immune system, ‘erasing’ the entire memory repertoire that the individual has accumulated in his life (infections, vaccines). Therefore, and“The immune system has to gradually relearn everything it has encountered,” show.

Health officials in the UK sent a statement to the media and public immediately asking parents to vaccinate their children. That tripe virus vaccine, Introduced in the UK almost 30 years ago, this vaccine is part of the NHS’ routine childhood vaccination programme. It is managed in two doses, the first before the age of two years and the second before the age of five years.