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False online information on vaccines contributed to Measles outbreak

False information about the safety of vaccines disseminated by social media resulted in an outbreak of measles in European countries, Dr Nathalie Schirvel from the…

False information about the safety of vaccines disseminated by social media resulted in an outbreak of measles in European countries, Dr Nathalie Schirvel from the Belgian Health authority AVIQ told Sputnik.

Measles is currently on the rise in Europe with the number of cases having tripled in 2017.

The WHO said that more than 21,000 people caught the virus in 2017, and 35 people died of it, while there were only 5,200 cases in 2016.

“The problem is also social media … False information has been spread in the population about vaccine safety. Vaccine critics have made vaccination rates fall below 90 per cent in the last decade; a dangerous trend,” Schirvel said.

The doctor pointed out that at least 95 per cent of the population must be vaccinated in order to fight the spread of measles.

“To control measles, 95 per cent of the population must be vaccinated or immune because of a past infection.

“Measles is one of the most infectious viruses — it infects 90 per cent of people, who are exposed to it if they aren’t immune, and it can hang in the air and infect people, who enter a room as long as two hours after an infected person has left!” Schirvel added.

The rise in the number of people who caught measles rose after the influx of migrants and refugees in 2015.

The incidence of measles in Germany jumped by more than 450 per cent between 2014 and 2015, when Germany accepted hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants.

The WHO carefully avoids linking the epidemic with the migrants’ crisis in Europe, reminding that Europe regularly had bursts of the viral disease in the past.

On the Pulitzer Center website, U.S. journalist Sonia Shah accused the EU anti-immigrant policy of depriving migrants and refugees from proper medical care, which results in a health crisis.

“Across Europe, anti-migrant policies restrict refugees’ access to medical care, depriving them of everything from free vaccinations to pre-natal services.

“Basic supplies are scarce, once-contained diseases such as malaria and HIV are on the rise, and infant mortality has spiked by 40 per cent.

“Sonia Shah warns this could develop in unmanageable health crises. Epidemics of preventable diseases loom,” Shah said.

Measles is not the only disease threatening Europe.

The incidence of chicken-pox, rubella, whooping cough, mumps or meningitis has also increased significantly.

In Germany, the Robert Koch Institute mentions, for example, that the number of Hepatitis “B” cases has increased by 300 per cent since 2014. (Sputnik/NAN)

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