Tis the Season - For Measles!
It looks like we are back to a classic measles season that peaks in late winter and early spring.
As we didn’t have enough to worry about with cold and flu season, it looks like measles season might be making a comeback.
That’s right, measles season!
Tis the Season - For Measles!
You likely don’t remember, but back in the day, in the pre-vaccine era, measles hit in a distinct pattern. At the time, measles case counts were typically highest during the late winter and early spring, at least they were in temperate climates, like the United States.
Of course, that pattern became broken once we ended the endemic spread of measles.
Then, case counts were highest around the time an outbreak occurred, which was typically triggered when someone who was unvaccinated traveled out of the country and brought measles home.
And now, as we are likely about to lose our endemic measles elimination certification status, we can once again see the seasonal pattern of measles cases starting to take shape.
What else can you see from the above graph?
If it is true that this is a new measles season, then it likely means that it is just the beginning of measles season, and we can expect many more cases in the coming months and years.
What else can we expect to see during measles season?
more kids in quarantine and being kept out of school
more daycare and school closures (measles epidemics used to close down entire schools and school districts!)
many more hospitalizations
many more deaths
Or at least we will see more cases unless something drastic is done (getting everyone vaccinated and protected!) to help stop these outbreaks.
More on Measles Season
CDC - Measles Cases and Outbreaks https://www.cdc.gov/measles/data-research/index.html