A child died due to a rare complication of measles, a few years after contracting the disease
The death of a child in the US, kidnapped by a rare complication of measles a few years after contracting the disease, brings to the fore the danger of an often underestimated disease and especially the need for vaccination.
Measles is not a “simple childhood disease”. Photo: Archive
A school age child in the United States recently died from a rare complication caused by measles, a disease he had contracted in early childhood, when he was too young to be vaccinated.
According to the Los Angeles Health Department, the cause of death was subacute sclerosis, an incurable neurological condition, which leads to progressive brain deterioration and is fatal in almost all cases.
Experts explain that the risk of developing this complication is about one case in 10,000 measles patients, but in infants the probability increases significantly, up to 1 in 600, according to NBCNews.
“It is a painful memory of how dangerous the measles can be, especially for the most vulnerable members of the community”, said Dr. Munu Davis, the public health manager of the Los Angeles district, emphasizing the importance of group immunity, which protects the babies too small for vaccination.
Secretary of Health, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., accused of misinformation
In addition to the medical risk, American health authorities are facing another challenge: misinformation.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Minister of Health in the US, was criticized for his contradictory statements. Although he supported vaccination, he spread false information that the immunity offered by the ROR vaccine would decrease rapidly, promoted invalidated treatments and presented vaccination rather as an individual choice than a collective responsibility.
In addition, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., exaggerated the role of vitamin A in the treatment of measles, despite the risks associated with excessive consumption, such as liver impairment, doctors in western Texas, who face a measles epidemic, reporting that some unvaccinated patients had signs of hepatic damage A.
The year 2025 is already listed as the worst year of the last three decades for measles in the United States. So far, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed 1,454 cases and three deaths.
The situation in Romania: over 27,500 cases in one year
Romania is facing, in turn, an epidemic of alarming proportions. Between February 2024 – January 2025, over 27,500 cases were reported, which represents 85% of the total registered throughout the EU/EEA area.
Eight people have died, and hospitals are constantly receiving children in serious condition, most of them unvaccinated.
The number of vaccinated children remains quite small: only 78% of children receive the first dose of ROR, and for the second dose the percentage drops to 62%, according to the data of the National Institute of Public Health.
Misinformation, conspiracy theories and anti-vaccine campaigns on social networks have decisively continted in increasing the number of parents who refuse to vaccinate their children, despite the fact that specialists constantly warn that measles “is not a simple childhood disease”, but an extremely contagious infection.
In the absence of vaccination, the virus spreads rapidly, and its effects – both in the US and in Romania – confirm the danger represented by the non -vaccination.
