Epidemiology and Health Statistics about Measles

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Measles epidemiology
Measles is a viral disease that occurs across the globe with no regional proclivities. Mass vaccination has been its most effective deterrent, helping eradicate the disease in some countries though recent resurgences have emerged even in clean countries. It is an exclusively human disease that has no known animal vectors, with sufferers necessarily being symptomatic. Transmission is airborne and happens from person to person through respiratory droplets (Strebel et al, 2012). Therefore, this communicability becomes quite contagious in late winter and early spring in temperate climes because this is the most humid period of the year. The high communicability exceeds 90% for susceptible individuals exposed to secondary attacks. Incubation ranges from seven to 18 days, with transmission from four days before to four days after the distinctive rash symptom appears. Other symptoms include coughing, high fever, runny nose, and conjunctivitis. In advanced or complicated cases, viral or bacterial pneumonia could affect the sufferer, leading to permanent disabilities such as blindness, brain damage, and deafness.
The disease is highly contagious, with almost all non-immune adults and children exposed to it getting infected. Immune-compromised individuals are also at high risk of infection, complications, and possibly death (Strebel et al, 2012). Due to its infectiousness, the disease is a significant cause of child mortality, killing more children than other vaccine-preventable illnesses. Statistics indicate that before the measles-containing vaccine (MCV) became widespread, 90% of children across the world would contract and heal from the virus before ten years of age. This vaccine has been widely available since the 1960s, with almost all countries offering it as part of infant vaccination programs.
Three factors contributing to a measles resurgence
The global Measles resurgence is a factor of many causes which this section considers. First, there has been increased travel and movement from countries with outbreaks to countries that have brought the disease under control or even eradicated it (Feemster & Szipszky, 2020). Countries that eradicated the disease, such as the US, ended up reducing vaccination efforts due to the disease's absence, which means newborns were not necessarily vaccinated to get immunity. This population of unvaccinated individuals becomes a vulnerable segment in society when travelers from countries with outbreaks visit them, exposing them to new strains of the virus.
Second, the anti-vaccine movement has been instrumental in building opposition to vaccine programs, primarily via nonmedical exemption options. The World Health Organization places blame for recent resurgences on anti-vaccination efforts that have resulted in outbreaks in different parts of the world (Wilder-Smith & Qureshi, 2019). For countries to be safe from the disease, they must achieve 95% immunity among the populace, but most are 10% below target for the first dose and 25% for the second dose. These numbers show that the disease is still rampant across the world, and significant populace segments lack immunity to its impact.
Third, carriers o...