The hidden cost of Ebola: thousands of measles deaths

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Thu, 2015-03-12 17:15 — mike kraft

VOX by Julia Belluz March 12, 2015

(Scroll down for Science journal study.)

As if being stricken by the most deadly virus known to man weren't enough, now, it seems, West Africa is on alert for outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases including measles, whooping cough, and tuberculosis.

A girl collects her family's laundry after drying it on a rooftop in the West Point township on January 31, 2015 in Monrovia, Liberia. Life has been disrupted by Ebola for many Liberians.

In a new study in the journal Science, researchers focused on measles — the most contagious virus recorded — and applied statistical models to quantify the likelihood of an epidemic in the three countries worst hit by Ebola, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea.

The scientists wanted to explore this question because during the Ebola crisis, routine vaccinations essentially ceased: many health facilities shut down, health workers walked off the job, and people weren't seeking routine health-care even when they could out of fear of catching Ebola.

The researchers found that due to the health-system disruptions over 18 months, there could be up to 100,000 additional measles cases and between 2,000 and 16,000 additional deaths. (The range comes from various levels of reduction in vaccination rates that they looked at, from 25 to 100 percent drops in coverage.)

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http://www.vox.com/2015/3/12/8199163/ebola-measles
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