Measles erases the immune system's memory [View all]

[Judi Lynn]

Beyond the rash, the infection makes it harder for the body to remember and attack other invaders
BY LAURA SANDERS 6:00AM, MAY 21, 2019


The most iconic thing about measles is the rash — red, livid splotches that make infection painfully visible.

But that rash, and even the fever, coughing and watery, sore eyes, are all distractions from the virus’s real harm — an all-out attack on the immune system.

Measles silently wipes clean the immune system’s memory of past infections. In this way, the virus can cast a long and dangerous shadow for months, or even years, scientists are finding. The resulting “immune amnesia” leaves people vulnerable to other viruses and bacteria that cause pneumonia, ear infections and diarrhea.

Those aftereffects make measles “the furthest thing from benign,” says infectious disease epidemiologist and pathologist Michael Mina of Harvard University. “It really puts you at increased susceptibility for everything else.” And that has big consequences, recent studies show.

More:
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/measles-immune-system-memory-infection?utm_source=Editors_Picks&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=editorspicks052619