rubella vaccine Vaccination against measles, rubella and mumps

Vaccination against measles, rubella and mumps


Vaccination against measles, rubella and mumps. Explanations and information
What is measles
What is rubella
What is mumps
Frequency of infections
Why is it done starting from 12 months?
Why is it recommended in children?
What vaccine is used
What are the risks of vaccination?
In which cases can not it be performed?
What is measles?

Measles is a very contagious infectious disease, caused by a virus that is transmitted through the nose and throat secretions.

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It is characterized by high fever, cough, conjunctivitis, and a characteristic eruption of the skin that extends from the face to the whole body. The fever lasts about a week, rashing 3-5 days. Measles can have major complications: otitis in about one in 10 cases, pneumonia in about 1 in 20 cases, acute encephalitis in 1 in 1,000 / 2,000 cases.

Other complications include diarrhea, convulsions, bronchitis and platelet reduction (thrombocytopenia). Some complications, especially respiratory and neurological ones can also be fatal. In addition, acute encephalitis causes permanent damage (deafness, mental retardation) in 20-30% of survivors. There is no specific therapy against measles.

What is rubella?

Rubella is caused by a virus that is transmitted from person to person through the nose and throat secretions. It is characterized by mild fever, swollen lymph nodes, especially those of the nape, and a skin rash that affects the whole body and may even go unnoticed.

Sometimes, especially in adult women, it can cause joint pain and swelling. Another possible complication is thrombocytopenia. The main danger of rubella, however, occurs when a woman takes the infection during pregnancy.

In fact, the virus is very dangerous for the fetus and can cause both abortion and the birth of a child with serious malformations (for example, deafness, mental retardation, visual problems and congenital heart disease). There is no specific therapy against rubella.

What is mumps?

Epidemic mumps (mumps) is caused by a virus transmitted through the nose and throat secretions. It usually manifests with swelling of the cheek caused by the swelling of the parotid gland and with mild fever. The swelling can simultaneously affect the two sides of the face, one side only, or first one and then the other.

Mumps can cause meningitis in about 1 in 200 cases. In addition, 20-30% of males who have mumps after puberty have inflammation of the testicles (orchitis) which can cause infertility.

There is no specific therapy for mumps.

How frequent are measles, rubella and mumps in Italy?

The percentage of vaccinated children has increased in recent years but is still not optimal; for this measles, mumps and rubella are still frequent diseases. In the years immediately preceding the introduction of vaccination, an average of 74,000 measles cases were notified per year.

Since the introduction of vaccination, the number of notified cases has progressively decreased; in 2002-2003, however, a new epidemic took place. Over the two years considered, the epidemic involved more than 5,000 hospitalizations with around 600 diagnoses of pneumonia, 140 diagnoses of encephalitis and four deaths.

In Italy, therefore, serious complications and deaths caused by an easily preventable disease continue to occur. To overcome this disease, a National Plan is currently underway to adequately vaccinate both children in the second year of life, and older children who have not previously been vaccinated.

AdvertisingThe goal is to eliminate measles in Italy by 2007. Also the number of notified cases of rubella has progressively decreased since the introduction of vaccination. In the 1970s, in fact, about 16,000 cases of rubella were reported each year, while from 2000 to 2004, on average, 3,000 cases were recorded per year.

However, even today there are cases of infection in pregnancy that result in abortion, death in utero and born with congenital rubella syndrome. As for mumps, however, until the 1990s epidemics occurred every 2-4 years, with a peak of over 40,000 cases reported in 1999.

Thanks to the increase in the percentage of children vaccinated, in 2003 and 2004 the historical minimum of reported cases was reached, with about 2,000 cases per year.

What vaccine do you use?

Measles, rubella and mumps are vaccines that are live inactivated, and are given by subcutaneous injection. Currently, a vaccine is used against all three diseases (trivalent MPR vaccine), for all children from 12 months of age.

Why is it done starting from 12 months?

Most newborns are protected for the first months of life by maternal antibodies. These interfere with vaccination, rendering it ineffective. At 12 months of age all children no longer have maternal antibodies and can be vaccinated effectively.

Why is it recommended in children?

Rubella is usually a mild disease in children. The main problem with rubella is the effect of the disease if contracted during pregnancy. If a woman contracts the infection during the first trimester of pregnancy, the virus can infect the fetus causing abortion or serious malformations such as blindness, deafness or mental retardation.

These manifestations are usually referred to as congenital rubella. The vaccination of all children against rubella is aimed at reducing the circulation of the virus in the general population, indirectly protecting even pregnant women.

What are the risks of vaccination?

The measles-rubella-mumps vaccination can cause fever and sometimes a slight rash after 7-10 days. It can rarely be associated with febrile convulsions, which heal spontaneously and leave no outcomes.

Even more rarely, MPR vaccination may be associated with a transient decrease in blood platelets.

In which cases can not it be performed?

As with other vaccinations, in case of severe allergic reactions to a vaccine, the following doses should not be performed. Vaccination is also contraindicated in case of severe allergic reaction to a component of the vaccine and in people with immune system deficiency and during pregnancy.

Vaccination should be postponed in case of an acute acute illness or in the case of some immunosuppressive therapies. Special precautions should be taken in people with tuberculosis, or who have recently been immunoglobulin therapies, or who have had a decrease in platelets after a previous dose of MPR.