FOX 4 – Some diseases and infections have made an alarming comeback in the past decade, such as measles — which many health officials believed could have been eradicated with proper public health measures. Here’s a look at five of the worst: More than 140,000 people died from measles in 2018, according to new estimates from both the WHO and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and nearly 10 million people were infected globally. Measles is preventable through vaccination, but global vaccination rates have stagnated for the past decade. This has caused devastating outbreaks to hit every region of the globe.
Most cases of measles were in children under the age of five — babies and young children have the highest risk of contracting a measles infection. Potential complications include pneumonia and encephalitis (swelling of the brain), as well as lifelong disabilities, such as permanent brain damage, blindness or hearing loss. “The fact that any child dies from a vaccine-preventable disease like measles is frankly an outrage and a collective failure to protect the world’s most vulnerable children,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreysus, Director-General of the WHO. “To save lives, we must ensure everyone can benefit from vaccines – which means investing in immunization and quality health care as a right for all.” READ MORE
