Child dies of measles in Nijmegen hospital. since 2019

A girl died from the virus in Radboudum, Nijmegen, in March, despite the fact that measles is almost non-existent in the Netherlands. , the first death from measles in the Netherlands. De Gelderlander.

McCall could not disclose where and how the girl contracted the measles, for privacy reasons. he said. “As long as there are communities where immunization is not practiced or not widely practiced, there will be outbreaks in those communities every few years,” he said. If there are many susceptible people, the measles virus can spread. The virus is usually brought back to the Netherlands by people infected abroad.

Measles epidemics occur every four to eight years in the Netherlands, says McCall. On average, the disease is discovered 10 to 20 times a year, according to the Institute of Health RIVM. The odds of dying from measles in the Netherlands are 1 in 10,000.

The problem with measles is that even years later, the immune system can still run amok and attack the body’s own brain cells. “It was there, and then it spread,” McCall said.

This happened in a previous fatality from measles in 2019. This child contracted measles during an outbreak that caused 2,700 measles cases in the Netherlands from 2013 to 2014. At that time, 180 people were hospitalized and one girl died. Since then, there have been two more deaths that may have been traced back to an epidemic years earlier, McCall said.

Measles is transmitted by coughing or sneezing and the virus is airborne. People who inhale these droplets can become infected. This disease is highly contagious.

According to RIVM, the first symptoms are often fever, feeling unwell, cold-like symptoms, coughing, eye irritation, and small white spots inside the mouth. It appears and spreads all over the body. Symptoms usually go away on their own.