Can a Measles Epidemic Be Avoided in 2022?

Abstract

As every children’s nurse remembers from their undergraduate education, measles is a highly infectious viral respiratory disease, classically accompanied in the early stages by the appearance of Koplik spots on the inside of the cheeks. These are small white spots named after Dr. Henry Koplik of New York, who first described them in 1896 (Jain & Rathee, 2021). This stage is followed by the emergence of a maculopapular rash that appears about 14 days after the person is exposed. The rash spreads vertically from the head to the trunk and then to the lower extremities. Measles victims typically are considered to be contagious from 4 days before to 4 days after the rash appears. Despite being taught about this and other childhood infectious diseases, most contemporary children’s nurses and other healthcare professionals working in western societies may never have actually seen a child with measles apart from seeing photographic images in a textbook! This is attributable to the success of childhood immunization programs that have in some areas of the world virtually eradicated many of the infectious diseases that used to claim the lives of so many children throughout history up until vaccines became widely available in the twentieth century. However, these infectious diseases such as measles continue to wreak havoc on the lives of children in societies where immunization rates are low. Prior to the availability of the measles vaccine in 1963, major epidemics of the disease occurred approximately every 2–3 years and were responsible for an estimated 2.6 million deaths each year (World Health Organization, 2019). For example, before 1963, 1,000 people developed chronic disability from acute encephalitis caused by measles every year in the United States. Such was the success of the vaccine uptake in the United States that in the year 2000, measles was declared COMPREHENSIVE CHILD AND ADOLESCENT NURSING 2022, VOL. 45, NO. 2, 119–122 https://doi.org/10.1080/24694193.2022.2065869