Measles is a dangerous viral infection that kills hundreds of thousands of people every year around the world. Only measles vaccination can help protect against this serious illness. How much vaccination works, how long the measles confrontation persists in the body, which in general is this disease, we will understand in more detail.
Measles
RNA-containing virus is considered the causative agent of the disease. In general, measles is more attributed to childhood disease, but if an unvaccinated adult is infected with the virus, the course of the disease for him passes in the most complex form, leaving behind various complications. The virus spreads when coughing, sneezing with particles of mucus from the patient, when talking with salivation. An infected person becomes contagious even when he himself does not feel the symptoms of the disease, that is, during the incubation period. The only protection is measles vaccine. How much does it act in the body, many people are interested in this question. Guaranteed, you will be protected for 10-12 years, doctors say.
If the virus enters an unprotected body, the patient begins to notice symptoms more characteristic of many respiratory diseases:
- fever (temperature up to 40 degrees);
- sore throat;
- dry cough, runny nose;
- weakness, malaise;
- headache.
The specific symptoms of measles include the following symptoms:
- conjunctivitis and photophobia;
- severe swelling of the eyelids;
- rashes on the mucous cheeks appear on the second day (whitish small spots like semolina semolina, which disappear after a day);
- on the 4-5th day - a rash on the skin, first it appears on the face, then spreads down throughout the body.
Possible measles complications
The measles vaccine will save you from the disease. As long as it acts, so much will the body be protected from infection. In unvaccinated children, and even more often in adults, measles causes serious complications:
- measles or bacterial infection often causes pneumonia;
- bronchitis;
- sinusitis;
- keratitis (every 5th patient at the same time loses sight);
- meningitis and meningoencephalitis;
- otitis media and eustachitis (subsequently - hearing loss);
- pyelonephritis.
With measles, there is no effective antiviral treatment. Saves a person only vaccination carried out in advance! In 0.6% of cases, measles is complicated by brain damage (encephalitis), while 25% of patients die.
When to get vaccinated
In Russia, the measles vaccine is included in the planned vaccination schedule. The child is vaccinated at the age of 1-1.3 years. Revaccination is carried out at 6 years.
Due to the fact that the growth of the disease in 2014 in Russia led to serious consequences among the adult population, it was decided to vaccinate the population. Under the national program, up to the age of 35, a free measles vaccine is introduced. How long does the drug work? The immunity of a vaccinated person is on average resistant to the disease up to 12 years (sometimes longer).
What about people over 35? Vaccination is carried out to everyone, but already on a fee basis. Monovaccine is administered twice with an interval of three months. If once you received one vaccine, the vaccination must be repeated. Revaccination is not carried out for adults.
Emergency immunization
Regardless of the vaccination calendar and schedule, emergency immunization is carried out in the following cases:
- In the focus of infection, all individuals (free of charge) who come into contact with the patient are vaccinated within three days. Unvaccinated children older than one year are included.
- A newborn if the mother does not have measles antibodies in her blood. Re-vaccination of the baby is carried out at eight months, and then on the calendar.
- When traveling abroad, measles vaccination must be done one month before departure. Particular attention is paid to those leaving for Georgia, Thailand, Ukraine, where over the past 3 years there have been many cases of measles with a fatal outcome. How many years has the measles vaccine been in effect, they know in field services. Vaccination will be noted in your documents, and this will allow you to travel abroad without fear for many years.
- Unvaccinated women who are planning a pregnancy, since measles is very dangerous for the fetus during the gestation period.
- Persons from 15 to 35 years old who do not have evidence of vaccination and if they are at risk (teachers, health workers, students).
Where to get vaccinated
When administering the measles vaccine, some rules should be followed, which every physician must be aware of, as well as how long the measles vaccine lasts.
For children, the drug in an amount of 0.5 ml is injected into the subscapular region or just below the middle third of the outer surface of the shoulder.
In adults, the vaccine is injected into the muscle or subcutaneously into the upper third of the shoulder. The drug is not recommended to be injected into the gluteal region due to an excess of subcutaneous fat. Intradermal injection is also undesirable. Introduction to a vein is strictly contraindicated!
Vaccination of both a child and an adult should always be carried out with written consent. If there was a refusal of vaccination, it is also made out in writing. Annually refusal needs to be reissued.
How old is the measles vaccine
So, for how long after a measles vaccine is our immunity strong against this terrible disease? If we talk about adults, the average validity period lasts 12-13 years. There are cases that indicate a period of 10 years. If you delve into this issue in more depth, it is worth saying that everything is individual. "Post-vaccination immunity" (there is such a concept) for each individual individual can be different, for someone it will be 10 years, for someone 13 and even more. There was a recorded case when the patient already found measles antibodies after 25 years after vaccination.
It is important to understand that if you are vaccinated, this will not give a 100% guarantee of protection. According to the vaccine developers themselves, you just have a much better chance of not getting sick than those who aren't vaccinated.
How long does measles vaccine take effect? This happens as soon as your body forms immunity (antibodies) to the disease. On average, this occurs after 2-4 weeks after vaccination. Each case is individual.
Measles contraindications
How many measles vaccines in adults work, we found out, now we will understand what contraindications to the vaccine exist. The most serious are the following:
- The vaccine is not recommended for pregnant women. If there is a need, it is necessary to consult with specialists.
- Vaccination is not recommended for patients with AIDS, HIV, or those who have diseases that affect the bone marrow or lymphatic system.
- You should not be vaccinated if at the moment you have any of your chronic illness worsened.
- For general ailments, illnesses, also postpone vaccination.
- The vaccine is also contraindicated if it already once caused you complications.
- Be sure to consult your doctor if the drugs you are taking with this vaccine are compatible.
- Egg white allergy.
- Malignant neoplasms.
- Intolerance to antibiotics.
Common effects of measles vaccine in adults
Adults begin to feel the effects of vaccination on the first day. Pain may occur at the injection site, redness of the skin, some compaction. Similar symptoms are common with other types of vaccination, for example, from hepatitis B.
Further, depending on your immunity, more often on the fifth, and someone on the tenth day, lethargy, fatigue, body temperature rises. This is considered normal, as your body begins to produce measles antibodies. The doctor needs to be informed about his condition, he will correctly explain the cause of the ailment and introduce you to the course of how many years the measles vaccine has been in effect. These are the main effects of measles vaccines that are experienced by all normal, healthy people.
Side effects of vaccination
In rare cases, adverse reactions to the vaccine occur, some can be attributed to severe ones. Here you can’t do without the help of doctors. They may be as follows:
- A toxic reaction may occur on the 6-11th day after vaccination. The temperature rises, a sore throat occurs, intoxication occurs, a rash appears. The period can last five days, but it should be distinguished from any infectious diseases.
- Convulsive or encephalic reaction. High fever and seizures. Most pediatricians do not attribute these symptoms to serious complications.
- Post-vaccine encephalitis. Symptoms resemble the effects of other infections: dizziness, headaches, nausea, confusion, agitation, cramps, neurological symptoms.
- Allergic reactions to vaccine components. Quincke's edema. Hives. Joint pain.
- Exacerbation of allergic diseases. Bronchial asthma.
- Anaphylactic shock.
- Pneumonia.
- Myocarditis.
- Meningitis.
After all of the above, many may get the impression of the danger of vaccination. But this is not so. Many adverse reactions are formulated purely theoretically. So, for example, a complication in the form of encephalitis can occur once in a million. If measles occurs, the risk of complications will increase by a thousand times.
How long does measles vaccine take effect? As soon as antibodies are formed in the body (from 2 to 4 weeks). If during this time you do not feel any side effects in the body, a trip to the doctor is optional.
Treatment of complications after vaccination
How long does measles vaccine last? For a long time (10 to 13 years) you will be protected from the disease. It should be borne in mind that the body's reactions, even if they arose, pass quickly, after a few days, but complications after the disease itself can be deplorable, even fatal.
- If adverse reactions occur, consult a doctor.
- Symptomatic drugs will help to cope with the consequences: antiallergic, antipyretic.
- If the complication is severe, then it is better to treat him in a hospital. Your doctor will prescribe corticosteroid hormones.
- If bacterial complications occur, antibiotics will help to cope with them.
Types of vaccines
The measles vaccine is made from living but very attenuated measles viruses. In medicine, both monovaccines (from measles) and combined ones (from measles, epidarotitis and rubella) are used. The vaccine virus itself is not capable of causing the disease in the body; it only contributes to the production of specific measles antibodies. Feature of live vaccine :
- So that the drug does not lose strength, it should be stored at a temperature not exceeding +4 degrees.
- Unused vaccine is destroyed according to special rules.
- The composition includes egg white and antibiotics. This can provoke allergic reactions in some individuals.
Polyclinics in Russia use domestically produced mumps and measles vaccines for measles vaccination. Monovaccines have fewer adverse reactions.
We found out how long a measles vaccine works, what side effects, contraindications can be. Well, now about how to prepare for the vaccine so that the vaccination is as successful as possible.
How best to transfer the vaccine
- You need to come for vaccination absolutely healthy, without any signs and manifestations of SARS.
- Before vaccination, ideally there will be a visit to the doctor and the delivery of all general tests.
- After the vaccine is administered, within three days, refuse to visit crowded places so as not to catch any extraneous virus.
- Can I swim? Yes, but do not rub the injection site. Better to take a shower rather than a bath.
- After vaccination, you should not introduce any new products or dishes into your diet so as not to provoke allergic reactions.
How long does measles vaccine work? For more than ten years in your life you can be calm. A terrible disease is unlikely to affect the body, because you, thanks to vaccination, have developed a strong immunity to measles.