It spreads easily
Measles is highly contagious viral infection, spread through the air from someone that is infected with the disease. If you live with someone that is infected and you carry no immunization there is a 90 percent chance you will catch it and with coughing a symptom of the illness, the chance of spreading it to others is also extremely high.
It can be fatal
In some cases Measles can have a fatality rate as high as 30 percent – Although in developed nations it is considerably lower. According to the World Health Organization in 2013 145,700 died from the disease.
There is no treatment
While treatment can help alleviate the symptoms of the disease, there is no active treatment to cure Measles. Symptoms include a rash that can cover the entire body for as long as 18 days, coughing, a runny nose, high fever, and red eyes.
Vaccines could eliminate the disease
Despite many so called “anti-vaxers” proclaiming the vaccine is dangerous and completely unnecessary,
The vaccine is so effective the College of Physicians of Philadelphia state that since the wide spread use of the MMR – the vaccine for Measles, Mumps and Rubella – measles cases have dropped by 99 percent in the U.S. and until the recent outbreak, ongoing measles transmission in the U.S. had been eliminated.
The vaccine is credited with saving 1 million lives a year and the rate of life threatening complications from the vaccine are almost a million to one.