We are in the midst of a measles epidemic, and the situation is becoming increasingly alarming. While infectious disease hospitals are stormed by seriously ill children, Romanians still refuse vaccination. What awaits us? Finally, we will witness post-infectious collective immunization, i.e. immunization of the population through disease. But this comes with extremely high risks.
It is not known when the measles epidemic in Romania will end. Photo source: archive
Due to the low vaccination rate, we have reached the situation where eight or ten children arrive at the Clinical Hospital for Infectious Diseases “Victor Babeș” in Bucharest every day, and not anyway, but with complicated forms of the disease. “Unfortunately, the admission of seven, eight, ten children every day, with measles, from various outbreaks, obviously unvaccinated, has become a constant of our daily life in the hospital. This is unfortunate, because, as we know, Romania was a country from which measles had disappeared for a very long time, thanks to a very well-supported vaccination campaign that prevented measles cases for decades. From 1979, when the measles vaccination campaign began in Romania and until the 2000s, there were no more cases“, stated the manager of the hospital, Dr. Simin Florescu, in a televised show.
The doctor stated that, usually, children who arrive at the hospital come with complicated forms of the disease: broncho-pneumonia, encephalitis or, in the case of babies, forms of the disease that can be fatal. But measles does not forgive anyone, it does not take into account age. Therefore, the patients include teenagers and even adults. “Now, basically, it is a constant epidemic, with a large number of cases, with a number of deaths that may seem small, but think that this is a disease from which one must not die, because for this disease we have a very effective vaccine that prevents disease, complications and, obviously, death. Why do we have to have these things? I do not know. It is not good to get used to the fact that we have measles. All vaccination campaigns must be resumed to prevent this disease, because what is happening is not normal“, the doctor also specified.
Immunization by disease, strong, but with extremely serious complications
All specialists say it in unison: if parents refuse to vaccinate their children against measles, the epidemic will follow its natural course: from one day to the next, from one week to the next, the number of illnesses will increase until it reaches uncontrollable. And we are not talking about a possible scenario, but about a reality that we will face in the near future. The epidemic will end in two situations: if the immunization rate increases through vaccination or when we all immunize ourselves through the disease. And, it seems that the way things are going, that’s what we care about: the illness, which comes with some of the most serious complications. And then.. escape who can! “Immunization by disease confers very robust and stable postinfectious protection. Same as vaccination. But there is a big difference: vaccination involves much less risk than what serious complications the disease can bring. Whoever assumes the passage through the disease must assume these complications, including death”, epidemiologist Emilian Popovici, vice-president of the Romanian Society of Epidemiology, told “Adevărul”. “Otitis, as a complication of measles, occurs in 1 in 10 sick children and can cause permanent hearing loss. We are therefore talking about a permanent disability. Then 1 in 20 children with measles develop encephalitis, a serious condition that leads to seizures, deafness or mental retardation. Here is another major permanent disability. Last but not least, it should be known that 1-2 deaths are recorded for 1,000 children with measles. As long-term complications, we are talking about subacute sclerosing panencephalitis. Therefore what must be known is the fact that passing through the disease, although it confers a strong and long-lasting immunity, comes with major risks“, warns the epidemiologist.
The difference between vaccination and post-infectious immunization
Immunity through vaccination can be comparable to that acquired through illness. But the body is exposed to the virus differently, explains Dr. Emilian Popovici. “Post-infectious immunity is, as with Covid, an interaction between the immune system and the whole component, the whole viral particle. In the case of vaccination, we are talking about an interaction of the immune system with only a certain viral component”.
Both methods of immunization are extremely powerful, “but why risk the complications of the disease?”, asks the specialist. “The vaccine involves only a sting! The disease, on the other hand, can kill. What do we choose?”
When will the measles epidemic end?
The epidemic, Dr. Popovici believes, will end when we reach the level of post-infectious or post-vaccine immunization. “That is to have more than 80% of people immune to infection. This majority will protect the minority that does not have this protection. In the situation of vaccine-controllable diseases, we have variant A and variant B. Variant A means that parents understand to vaccinate their children, children are vaccinated, the general population is vaccinated against vaccine-preventable diseases and these diseases are kept under control. Variant B is the one in which vaccination is refused. When the collective immunity is no longer functional, epidemics reappear, resulting in illnesses with all the complications and the corresponding death rate. Option C does not exist. So at the moment when vaccination is refused, we can only end up with epidemics. Nothing else can happen“, the doctor also specified.
What is the cause of the decline in measles vaccination rates? Dr. Simon Florescu believes that it is about the derision of a process related to the intellect: “I would prefer to say that there is no explanation, rather than to say that the explanation consists in a derision of a process belonging to the intellect, to put it more elegantly. But it is really something difficult to explain when these parents (who refuse to vaccinate their children – no) are among those who have been vaccinated and who have reached this age and are able to start families and procreate perhaps precisely because they have were spared from these serious childhood diseases”.
