The Ministry of Health reports 23,425 cases of measles in Guatemala as of June 16, of which three out of 10 have been confirmed with a laboratory test. Deaths remain at 22 cases.
Official records indicate that 94.1% of people have recovered and that only 17.3% needed hospitalization when presenting serious symptoms.
Getting infected with measles carries risks and complications, such as pneumonia, otitis media, encephalitis, and death. But there is one more effect: immunological amnesia. The immune system can forget how to deal with infections.
According to the Ministry of Health, the organization stores information about previous illnesses and vaccines received. This allows it to respond more effectively to future infections. But he measles virus It can damage part of that immunological memory and temporarily reduce the protective capacity acquired throughout life.
As an effect, after overcoming the acute illness, a person may have increased susceptibility to other viruses and bacteria, and this may last for months or even years.
“Measles is not a mild disease and its effects can affect the response to other infections,” says Herbert Maldonado, president of the Guatemalan Association of Infectious Diseases (AGEI).
Research on the subject continuesaccording to the infectious disease specialist, but that is one of the complications caused by the disease.
Studies carried out between 2015 and 2019 by doctor Michael Mina, and published in Harvard Magazine, indicate that there is a greater risk of other infections during the first two months after recovery from measles.
Mario Melgar, pediatric infectious disease specialist and member of the National Council of Immunization Practices (Conapi), indicates that the measles virus attacks the cells of the immune system and affects immunological memory, so the person can become vulnerable to diseases that they have already suffered or against which they have been vaccinated. Children are more susceptible to this phenomenon.
The percentage of that happening is variable. According to Melgar, studies indicate that the probability of developing immunological amnesia after measles ranges between 10% and 50%.
He adds that it has been proposed to revaccinate children after an episode of measles, but so far no entity has recommended it because there is no certainty about the real benefit.
“At this time there is no recommendation to repeat vaccines, but to continue with the normal vaccination schedule,” says Melgar.
Given this risk, Maldonado emphasizes the importance of vaccination to prevent the viral disease, which is highly contagious and is transmitted by droplets spread by an infected person when speaking, coughing or sneezing.
Case report
The Ministry of Health’s measles registry has not been updated for 10 days. There are 7,075 cases confirmed by laboratory testing and 16,350 of people whose symptoms coincide with those of the disease or who have been close to infected people.
For Maldonado, that the cases due to epidemiological link and clinical definition are more than those confirmed by laboratory does not allow us to measure the severity of the outbreaksince the former are not taken into account to prepare the epidemiological curve of measles in Guatemala. Therefore, a decrease in cases is shown when, in reality, there is a sustained transmission.
He adds that the greatest number of infections is reported in urban areas, but that there are also cases at the municipal level. The problem is that official records do not allow us to see this detail, which generates the perception in the population that the outbreak was contained; however, the transmission continues.
Measles is a disease that can be prevented with vaccination and, at this point, the doctor points out that the Ministry of Health has implemented campaigns to bring the vaccine to the population.
As of June 16, 967,668 doses against measles were administered since the outbreak began on January 9 in Santiago Atitlán, Sololáwhen the first five cases were reported in the country.
In response to the behavior of the outbreak, the Ministry of Health extended the vaccination campaign to the northeastern municipalities of the department of Guatemala: Chinautla, Fraijanes, Palencia, San José del Golfo, Santa Catarina Pinula and San José Pinula.