Is measles a mild illness?

Northern Ohio anti-vaccine physician, Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, says the latest public health education on measles is a “fear campaign, saying, “What is MEASLES?… a fever, a cough, a rash, runny eyes & runny nose.” Who is right?

• Measles can quickly become serious and may require hospital care.
• Measles can erase some immune protection against other viruses and bacteria.
• Surviving measles does not mean the disease is mild or harmless.

Measles may begin with symptoms that feel like a cold, such as a cough, runny nose, and red, watery eyes. But it can quickly become serious, causing a high fever, rash, and other health problems. In the United States, about 1 in 5 people with measles needs hospital care. About 1 in 20 people develops pneumonia, a serious infection in the lungs. About 1 to 3 out of every 1,000 people with measles die from complications.

The risks may continue even after someone recovers. Measles can cause “immune amnesia.” This means measles can damage the immune system’s memory of other viruses and bacteria the person faced before getting measles. These may include viruses that cause the flu, herpes, or chickenpox, as well as bacteria that cause pneumonia or skin infections. The body may lose some of the antibodies that once helped it fight these germs. This can leave a person more likely to get sick from infections their body previously knew how to fight.

Many people have survived measles, but that does not mean it is a mild or harmless disease. Read this blog post about the lasting harm measles can cause.