In 2020, there were 10 times fewer measles cases than the previous year. This drop would be due to the improvement in the vaccination coverage of infants and to anti-covid actions.
- The number of cases has been divided by ten in 2020 compared to 2019
- The improvement in vaccination coverage and anti-Covid protection measures explain this sharp decrease.
This was already the case with the seasonal flu, it is now measles! In 2020, there were far fewer people infected with this disease than the previous year. And the number is impressive. The number of measles cases has been divided by 10, according to Public Health France. In detail, in 2019, 2,636 measles cases were reported compared to only 240 in 2020.”Viral circulation remained active during the first quarter of 2020, with 230 cases (96%) declared between weeks 1 and 13, then became almost absent from April 2020, until during the 1st quarter of 2021,” explains the press release published by the institution.
A mild but highly contagious disease
The incubation phase of measles lasts about ten days. At this time, the infected person does not yet have symptoms but can transmit the virus, which is considered highly contagious. Indeed, one patient with measles can affect up to 18 people, because the effective reproduction rate of this pathology is between 12 and 18. the SARS-CoV-2, meanwhile, would be much less contagious with a effective reproduction rate between 2.4 and 3.3.
The second phase of measles, called invasion, lasts about four days. It is characterized by nasopharyngitis, often accompanied by cough, conjunctivitis, cold and fever. At the end of this phase, small white dots appear inside the patient’s cheeks. They precede by 24 to 48 hours the eruption of red spots first on the face and then, after an average day, on the whole body. The spots persist for a week, take on a yellowish color, and disappear. The fever usually rises on the day of the rash and then drops. In most cases in Europe, this disease is mild. But it can lead to serious complications, such as neurological damage or lung infections.
Vaccination of infants and anti-covid gestures
There are two main reasons for this drop in measles cases. The first is the improvement of infant vaccination coverage, the injection of which has been compulsory since 2018. The second reason is linked to barrier gestures against Covid-19. Regularly washing your hands, wearing a mask, respecting social distancing, etc. All these habits adopted by the entire population to curb the spread of SARS-CoV-2 also helped to limit the circulation of the measles virus. And this is not the only disease concerned. All seasonal pathologies have decreased. There were, for example, much fewer bronchiolitis, gastroenteritis or even flu in 2020. According to Ihe assessment of the 2019-2020 flu season published by Public Health France, 3,700 deaths would be attributable to the flu during the Covid-19 epidemic. A figure lower than the 9,000 deaths linked to this pathology recorded each year in France since the 2011-2012 flu season.
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