Ever since the measles vaccine helped eliminate measles from the U.S. in 2000, people may have forgotten about how bad the measles can be. And this includes forgetting something dubbed “immune amnesia.” But now that measles has made a reappearance in this country with 320 reported cases across 16 states this year so far after vaccination rates have been dropping, it may be time to for a reminder. A reminder of not only the short-term badness but also the long-term no-you-really-don’t-that-because-it-could-have-been-avoided stuff that measles can bring to you like “immune amnesia” and SSPE.
Immediate Complications Of Measles
You may have seen the following statistics about measles from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
- Around one in five unvaccinated people in the U.S. who get measles is hospitalized
- One out of every 20 children with measles gets pneumonia
- One child out of every 1,000 who get measles will develop encephalitis, a medical term for swelling of the brain
- Nearly one to three of every 1,000 children who become infected with measles will die from respiratory and neurologic complications.
You may have also learned that getting the measles while you are pregnant can lead to premature birth or low-birth-weight babies.
‘Immune Amnesia’ From Measles
But you may not realize what measles can do to your immune system, not just while you are infected with the virus but for years and years afterwards. We obviously live in a world where there are a lot of threats around us like different nasty viruses and bacteria. That’s why it’s not a good idea to eat dirt or lick the toilet seat. There are also good stuff like friendly bacteria and avocado toast. Over the years our immune systems learn to recognize the bad stuff from the good stuff by either encountering them naturally or deliberately through approaches like vaccination. Your immune system forms memory cells to remember what to do with each thing and plasma cells to quickly secrete antibodies specifically against things that were recognized as bad.
Unfortunately, the measles virus can target and destroy these cells in your immune system, resulting in your immune system forgetting what to do when different things invade your body, hence the term amnesia. A study published in the journal Science in 2019 found that a measles infection play Wreck-It Ralph on your store of antibodies, destroying 11% to 73% of them. That’s decimating not just antibodies against the measles virus but also antibodies against other stuff like potentially the chickenpox, rhinoviruses, coronaviruses, different types of bacteria and whatever. So all that work your immune system did over the years to detect and build up defenses against stuff may be laid to waste.
This can leave your immune system like that Matt Damon character in the Bourne Identity and all its sequels, trying to re-learn and piece together things. Over time your immune system may get back to where it was previously. But this can take years and re-exposures to all sorts of things. In the meantime, you can be left susceptible to many things that you normally wouldn’t have gotten sick from before the measles.
Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis From Measles
The other big long-term complication that can happen after a measles infection is subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE). Yep, try saying that 10 times quickly. This can happen long after you think you’ve recovered fully from the measles, typically seven to 10 years later. You gotta figure that anything with that many syllables can’t be good to get.
SSPE is quite rare, appearing in about 7 to 11 out of every 100,000 people who get the measles. But it’s bad if you get it, really bad. It’s basically inflammation and swelling throughout your brain, resulting in progressive loss of your ability to think and function, eventually leading in most cases to coma and death. There’s not real cure for SSPE. You can down barrels of vitamin A till the cows come home, and it won’t affect the course of SSPE.
Clearly, the best way to avoid immune amnesia or SSPE from the measles is to not get the measles in the first place. And gee if there were only a very effective way of preventing the measles. Oh, that’s right, there’s a measles vaccines that is over 97% efficacious against the measles after two doses are administered, which people have been getting for years. And that vaccine helped the U.S. declare measles eliminated in 2000 so that it wouldn’t be a problem any longer. Until, of course, now.
