How measles infections can wipe away immunity to other diseases
Leaving children unvaccinated against measles could not only expose them to the virus — but increase their risk of contracting a host of other diseases.
Measles wipes out some of the immunity to other diseases that children acquire through vaccinations and infections, leaving them more vulnerable to illness for months and even years afterward, two new studies published Thursday report.
The findings help explain why countries that start to vaccinate children against measles see pediatric death rates drop substantially, beyond just the decrease that would be expected with the prevention of measles deaths.
The first paper, , showed that children infected with measles lost between 11% and 73% of their antibodies after infection.
