MMR- Measles, Mumps, Rubella

Measles

Measles is a highly contagious viral disease that incubates and replicates in the nose and throat and can be dangerous or sometimes deadly especially to infants, children, and people with other serious health conditions. The virus spreads like any other virus, through droplets in the air, that people can inhale or people might come into contact with physically with their hands and later might touch their mouth and face which can spread the virus. Common symptoms of measles include fever, dry cough, sore throat, and rashes/blotches on the skin and even inside the mouth. More serious symptoms include inflammation of the brain, pneumonia, bronchitis, ear infection. However, Measles is rare in more developed countries due to the MMR vaccine which was recored to lower the Measles death rate worldwide by 73% from 2010 to 2018 preventing over 23 million deaths that would’ve occurred with out the vaccine. The vaccine is both biologically effective and cost effective but their are still people all over the world who don’t have access to the vaccine, which causes the global death rate to hover around 100 thousand deaths per year, mostly made out of children between 1 and 5 years old.

 

More Information about Measles:

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/measles/symptoms-causes/syc-20374857

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/measles

 

Mumps

Mumps is a viral infection that predominantly effects the salivary glands near the nose and mouth and usually isn’t deadly but can have severe symptoms in people with other serious health conditions. The virus is spread through the salvia from person to person which can occur during coughing, sneezing, and even sharing eating utencils. The virus is also more common and dangerous in children and infants than any other age group so the MMR vaccine is given early in the infants life. Common symptoms include, swollen salivary glands, pain while eating, fever, headache, and muscle aches. More serious symptoms involved with mumps include swelling in the testicles, inflammation of the brain, pancreatitis, and meningitus. But mumps is also extremely rare in developed countries and is even fairly uncommon in underdeveloped countries with only 500 thousand worldwide cases in 2017 with almost no deaths each year in the 21st century. Even though the MMR vaccine has proven to prevent mumps completely in most people, some people in countries like Argentina, Chile, Columbia, and Egypt simply don’t have the access to this life-changing vaccine.

 

More information about Mumps:

https://www.cdc.gov/mumps/index.html

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/mumps/symptoms-causes/syc-20375361

 

Rubella

Rubella is a mild viral infection that has some of the same symptoms as measles and even shares its distinctive red rash it causes throughout the body along with measles. Measles and Rubella are very similar in their symptoms but are actually two different viruses that are from the same pathological family. Rubella is usually only dangerous in infants and especially in babies inside the mothers womb whose mother has contracted Rubella. Symptoms of Rubella include headache, mild fever, runny nose, enlarged lymph nodes, and joint pains. As mentioned above, Rubella is mild and almost never deadly but can serve a serious health implication in babies whose mother had Rubella within the first 3 months of pregnancy being congenital rubella syndrome which can cause other conditions later on in life. Rubella is very rare all over the globe and is almost never deadly and usually just a mild version of measles since it has less dangerous symptoms and sometimes only lasts for three days.

 

More information:

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/rubella/symptoms-causes/syc-20377310