VOA常速英语:麻疹传染性不可小觑

Many people think of measles as just another virus, but measles can kill. It can also cause permanent blindness, deafness and brain damage to those who survive and it spreads like wildfire. Measles is incredibly contagious. Once it gets around the community, it’s very difficult be, because it’s airborne. The disease is spread by coughing and sneezing. The virus can stay in the air or on surfaces for two hours. If a person with measles is in a room with ten other people who are unvaccinated, nine of them will get measles. And it’s not always obvious who can spread the disease.

Somebody can transmit measles for days before they have the rash. That means they can transmit it even before they know that they’re infectious. Child coming in the prodrome of measles will look like any other child with a cold. You know other runny nose in a coughing won’t have that rash for four days. Measles is especially dangerous for babies and young children. It is very difficult to protect children during a measles outbreak, if they have not been vaccinated. The rash is companied by a high fever. The best protection is a vaccine. We have a fantastic vaccine against measles. The vaccine has been around for over 50 years. Hundreds of millions of children have received this vaccine and are now healthy thriving adults. In large part, because they didn’t die of measles, because they got vaccine. The World Health Organization says the number of people who had measles in 2018 is greater than the number of cases for 2017. It’s largely due to choice. In developed countries, some parents choose not to vaccinate their children. In poor countries, parents don’t always have the choice to vaccinate.
Carol Pearson VOA News Washington.