Synonym
Measles: Morbilli measles vaccination: MMR vaccination
Introduction
Measles is a typical childhood disease. The trigger for this disease is the so-called measles virus, which has evolved from the bovine pest virus. Measles is a highly contagious infectious disease that spreads rapidly among unvaccinated children.
The first signs of a measles infection are the appearance of red skin spots (so-called measles exanthema), high fever and a rapid decline in general well-being. In addition, if no early treatment is administered, life-threatening pneumonia and encephalitis can occur. Classically, the diagnosis is made on the basis of the clinical picture just described and a detection of antibodies in the blood. Once measles has been diagnosed, treatment can only be carried out purely symptomatically, for example by administering antipyretic medication. In Germany, all measles cases that occur are subject to the general obligation to report.
Vaccines
The drug known as measles vaccine is a combined measles, mumps, rubella vaccine. This means that there is no vaccination against measles alone, but always a combination vaccination against all three diseases. The vaccine used in Germany is a so-called live vaccine, which contains attenuated viruses or pathogens that cannot multiply.
It is an active vaccination in which the immune system is stimulated to build up pathogen-specific immune competence without having to endure the infectious disease itself. Measles vaccination is usually given in combination with mumps and rubella vaccination. The combination of different modified pathogens that can no longer cause disease, but which can prepare the immune system for infection with the germ, repeatedly discourages parents from vaccination who feel that they are supplying their child with too many germs at once.
However, the practice of the triple vaccination means that the child needs to be given fewer adjuvants. Adjuvants enhance the immunization and thus reduce the number of viruses or virus particles that have to be administered in the vaccination. The MMR vaccination is similar in time to the measles vaccination described above. The first vaccination should be given at the age of 11-14 months, the second vaccination after 4 weeks. Again, the administration of the vaccine should be completed by the 23rd month of life.
