History Of The Measles Virus

What are Measles? According to Center of Disease Control, Measles start, “Three to five days after symptoms begin,” then, “a rash breaks out.” Measles are very contagious because if a person sneezes, coughs, or is even breathing next to you, you would most likely get it. Like Center of Disease Control says, “It usually begins as flat red spots that appear on the face at the hairline”. It starts from there and works its way down. To conclude,

Measles is virus with a single-stranded RNA and two membranes: a fusion protein that infuses into the host cell membrane and the hemagglutinin protein that absorbs the virus into the cells. The primary site for invasion is in the epithelium of the nares. Measles is highly contagious and very infectious because it is easily transmitted when an infected person coughs or sneezes. The virus can stay in the air or on surfaces for up to two hours and infect many people who inhale the infectious agent or touch a surface, then be introduced to a new host through touch to

Measles is a very contagious disease that is caused by a virus in the paramyxovirus family (World Health Organization, 2016). Measles, a virus only found in humans, can be passed through the air or by direct contact. It can be spread by sneezing, coughing, close personal contact or direct contact with infected nasal or throat secretions. The virus enters the body via mucous membranes and then it is carried throughout the body. Usually when someone has been exposed to measles, the first sign will be a high fever beginning about a week and a half after the exposure and

Measles was discovered in the 19th century by a Persian Doctor, but was not recognized until 1957 as an infectious agent in human blood by a Scottish physician. In 1912 measles became a notifiable disease and in the first decade that records were kept there was on average 6,000 deaths per year reported from the disease. (Center For Disease Control). There is no definite origination of measles but scientists believe that it dates back to the Roman Empire about the 11th and 12th century (NCBI, 2010). The first outbreak known in America was in 1657 in Boston,

According to the Epidemiology and Prevention of Vaccine Preventable Diseases textbook aka “The Pink Book” (2015) which was produced jointly by the Communication and Education Branch, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Measles is a paramyxovirus with the primary site of infection in the nasopharynx. It has an incubation period of 10-12 days. The first symptoms to occur are fevers (increasing stepwise 103-105 degrees), cough, runny nose and conjunctivitis approximately 2-3 days after exposure and last 2-4 days. The second part of the infection occurs approximately 14 days after exposure; which is evidence by Koplik spots on the oral mucosa. Then, 1-2 days later, a maculopapular rash develops along the hair line, face,

The Mumps virus seems to have been around since ancient times. Research says that the virus has been documented or recorded by the Hippocrates in 5th century BCE (Mumps Epidemiology and Prevention of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases). We give credit to Johnson and Goodpasture for helping determine how the virus is spread. This particular virus has been and still is known worldwide but became a reportable disease in the United States in 1968. The history behind the Mumps is not very detailed but today we are able to prevent this disease here in the US.

Armed with opposable thumbs and high-functioning frontal lobes, humans have historically battled disease, including the “the speckled monster”; smallpox. Known as a highly contagious virus, smallpox has been around since 10,000 B.C., and its plagues are responsible for causing millions of deaths. There was no knowledge of how to treat or prevent this disease from spreading until the idea of taking samples of dead smallpox cells and injecting them into a human was proven to build immunity. Over time, the treatment was perfected and has changed medical history by introducing the idea of the vaccine. Smallpox vaccinations eventually became mandated, and in 1979, smallpox was declared to be the first disease to ever be completely eradicated from

Although most people think Edward Jenner was the first person to attempt a vaccination, this is not true. The earliest vaccinations started in the 7th century when snake venom was drank by Buddhists to try to gain immunity from snakebites. In 1796, Edward Jenner, a doctor in England, discovered he could give people immunity to smallpox by injecting them with material from cowpox lesions. Smallpox was a significant disease in most countries and killed millions of people in Europe and Mexico. Steps had already been taken to eradicate smallpox but it was Jenner who discovered using cowpox to immunize against smallpox as being the safest method. Using smallpox to create the vaccine was not safe so Jenner’s idea helped to save many people. This was the beginning of developing vaccines to keep people safe from diseases that were capable of wiping out entire populations. This

In December of 2014, an outbreak of measles, which started in Disneyland, resulted in nearly two hundred people being sickened across the United States, Mexico, and Canada. The highly contagious respiratory disease spread for three months. Among those who contracted the illness, one developed severe pneumonia and multiple organ injury, while another suffered acute respiratory distress syndrome. So, why did an illness, which was purportedly eliminated sixteen years ago, experience a surge so dramatic that it caused more cases in 2014 than in the five preceding years combined? According to the CDC, the outbreak could be boiled down to one simple reason: “The majority of people were unvaccinated.” So while the California measles outbreak is a thing of the past, the fight to increase compliance with vaccinations continues. Although the benefits and safety of vaccinations are undisputed by the medical and scientific community, there are still sizeable groups of “anti-vaxxers” who refuse to vaccinate their children. These groups spread misconceptions, sometimes unknowingly, and become even more influential when coupled with the power of the internet and social media. Therefore, in order to increase compliance with routine vaccinations, the misconceptions of parents should be targeted, and legislation should be changed in order to prevent leniency and loopholes regarding vaccine exemptions.

Measles is an airborne disease that is spread through respiration (contact with fluids from an infected person's nose and mouth, either directly or through aerosol transmission (coughing or sneezing)), and is highly contagious—90% of people without immunity sharing living space with an infected person will catch it.[4] An asymptomatic incubation period occurs nine to twelve days from initial exposure. The period of infectivity has not been definitively established, some saying it lasts from two to four days prior, until two to five days following the onset of the rash (i.e., four to nine days infectivity in total), whereas others say it lasts from two to four days prior until the complete disappearance of the rash. The rash usually appears

Joseph Albietz explicates what vaccination is and how “vaccine is safe” for people to be able to use it without having to overwhelm with startled facts about the linkages between the 2009 H1N1 epidemic and autism. John E. Calfee enlarges Albietz information by providing proof of scientific findings. The findings that Calfee provided for us was how some scientists “failed to replicate Wakefield's results and in fact had ruled out any connection between autism and any vaccine, including the MMR vaccine.” (Calfee) Karin Decoster and Richard M. Eckersley both contradict what Albietz and Calfee have to say. Decoster asserts the false interpretation of how the government is promoting flu when “no one wants the vaccination so they have to push it and advertise it.” (Decoster) Eckersley relates the vaccination leading to drug abuse in a broader environment such as having disadvantages of acquiring the vaccination shot. I approve both Albietz and Calfee because they provided with many findings and researched that makes it credible to the reader. I think that vaccination itself cures many infectious diseases, but does not relate to affecting the people and their child with Autism or any other brain development issues.

Measles virus (MV) has been well established in the world, as the most transmissible viral agent in humankind and it’s considered as the primary cause of death in children globally. The persistent of Measles viral infection throughout the centuries has given the opportunity for scientists to investigate the Morbilivirus genus family where MV belongs. It has been found that every virus belonging to the Morbillivirus family, share a negative-strand linear RNA genome and a spherical envelope that surround the genome. In addition to that, all the virus species belonging to the Morbillivirus genus family, encode for eight proteins that are crucial for the invasion, multicipility and the survival of the virus [1]. This known virus family therefore is consisted of six species: Rinderpest Virus (RV), Phocine Distemper virus (PDV), Cetacean morbilliviruses (ceMV), Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPRV), Canine Distemper Virus (CDV) and Measles Virus (MeV). Apart from their common features however, these species show also to be phylogenetically related as it can be observed from the tree below (Fig 1.) An important observation is how closely MV is related with RPV and how least related is with CDV, showing a possible link between their infecting hosts [17].

Francis Home demonstrated as early as 1757 the communicable nature of the Measles virus through the blood of patients, comprehensive statistical data on the prevalence of measles did not commence until 1912 when it became a nationally notifiable disease in the United States. The lifespan of the Measles virus is characterized by three eras: pre-vaccine, pre-elimination, and post-elimination. The first breakthrough of the pre-vaccine era was the isolation of the virus by John F. Enders and Dr. Thomas C. Peebles following an outbreak in Boston in 1954. Nearly a decade passed before Enders and his team developed the isolated strain, named Edmonston-B, into a vaccine.

In 1881, Louis Pasteur furthered the evolution of vaccinology, the study of vaccines, by creating the first Anthrax and Rabies vaccines (“A Brief History,” 2015).

Measles is caused by a virus known as Paramyxovirus which is highly contagious. About 85% of people that are exposed to the virus are infected by it and about 95% of those people infected by the virus will develop an illness called measles(Carson-DeWitt