The World Health Organization voiced alarm Tuesday at the rapid spread of measles, with more than 306,000 cases reported worldwide last year—a 79-percent increase from 2022.

“We in the measles world are extremely concerned,” said Natasha Crowcroft, a WHO technical adviser on measles and rubella.

She stressed though that measles cases are typically dramatically under-reported, and that the real number was surely far higher.

To get more accurate figures, the UN health agency models the numbers each year, with its latest estimate indicating that there were 9.2 million cases and 136,216 measles deaths in 2022.

  • WanderingVentra
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    9 months ago

    This is what happens when you not only impede progress but want to reverse it. We’re going backwards.

    • aleph
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      9 months ago

      It’s also paradoxically driven by the success of the vaccines themselves. Some people think “what’s the point - when was the last time I heard of a kid dying of measles? It can’t be that serious.”

    • seang96@spgrn.com
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      9 months ago

      Since there is no herd immunity in a lot of communities, I would add the stipulation that only parents that didn’t properly get their children vaccinated.

  • shalafi@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Given all the reports, thought this might be a mutation. Alas, probably not.

    At least 95 percent of children need to be fully vaccinated against the disease in a locality to prevent outbreaks, but global vaccination rates have slipped to 83 percent.

    My kids were born pre-COVID and we were encouraged, and then some, to get vaccinations.

    Finally cut a nurse off mid-speech, “We’re not retarded. Hit her with everything ya got.”

    • BassTurd@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      There is a sales person that comes into work from time to time. She is from Wisconsin and is a hardcore Trump thumper, like it’s her whole identity. Last year she was bragging about not having a doctor anymore after her last one asked if she wanted the vaccine. These people can’t Darwin themselves out of the population fast enough.