Measles - Are You Protected?

Christiane Fux studied journalism and psychology in Hamburg. The experienced medical editor has been writing magazine articles, news and factual texts on all conceivable health topics since 2001. In addition to her work for, Christiane Fux is also active in prose. Her first crime novel was published in 2012, and she also writes, designs and publishes her own crime plays.

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MunichAnyone who has had measles once or been vaccinated twice is well protected from the disease. A look at the vaccination record could quickly answer the question of your personal immune status - at least in theory. Because unfortunately the booklet is often lost.

In this case, the family doctor or pediatrician can check your records and issue a new vaccination certificate. If this is not possible, you can be vaccinated to be on the safe side - an additional vaccination is not a problem. Another option is to have the vaccine protection tested in the blood. However, the health insurance companies usually do not cover the costs for this.

Depending on the age, the German population has different levels of protection against measles:

baby

In the first few weeks and months, infants benefit to a certain extent from the antibodies that are given to them by the mother during pregnancy or when breastfeeding. However, this nest protection does not protect as well as a vaccination. In addition, it is of course only given if the mothers themselves have formed appropriate antibodies through vaccination or due to an illness.

After a few months, the nest protection expires and the children are unprotected until they are vaccinated. The only protection is what is known as herd protection - if the environment is sufficiently immunized, it cannot pass the pathogen on. The aim is to raise the vaccination rate in Germany to over 95 percent. Only then does the herd protection reliably take effect and the measles could be eradicated. So if you vaccinate yourself, you not only protect yourself, but also everyone else, especially babies.

The Standing Vaccination Commission (STIKO) currently recommends two vaccinations for children every four to six weeks. The first should take place between the eleventh and the 14th month, the second between the 15th and the 23rd month. At the moment, however, experts are discussing whether the vaccination should not be given earlier.

Teenagers and young adults

These recommendations have been in place for 25 years.People born before 1990 usually only received one measles vaccination and are therefore not fully protected. Others may not have been vaccinated because their parents were against vaccination. That is why there are still considerable vaccine picks in Germany.

The result: Despite the introduction of measles vaccination in the 1970s, more than half of measles cases affect adolescents and young adults. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) therefore recommends all those born after 1970 to check their vaccination protection. If you are not sure, you should get vaccinated.

In some cases, however, vaccinated people also get sick. The vaccination is still worthwhile for them, because the risk of complications is very low.

People over 40

In Germany the measles vaccination was introduced in 1970 in the GDR and then in 1973 in the west of the republic. Since measles is highly contagious - 97 out of 100 unprotected people get the disease - almost all children and adolescents used to go through the disease before they were 16 years old. Anyone who is older than 40 today has therefore most likely not been vaccinated. But he is vaccinated because he survived the disease and formed antibodies. In very rare cases, however, people get measles a second time.

Measles is not harmless

In most cases, measles heals without complications. But at least ten out of 10,000 sufferers develop dangerous meningitis, the so-called measles encephalitis. Severe damage such as intellectual disabilities and paralysis remains in around two to three people affected. One or two of them die.

Such measles encephalitis can, however, also occur as a result of vaccination. However, this is much less the case, namely in one in a million people who are vaccinated.

A late complication, the so-called subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, is particularly feared. The entire brain becomes inflamed, which is always fatal. It can still appear for years after the actual measles illness. A total of 160,000 people still die of measles every year around the world. (cf)

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