Measles Dents Immunity for Three Years. Another Reason to Get MMR Vaccine

Changing previously held notions about the consequences of measles infection, Princeton researchers have found that the disease can make a person susceptible to other disease for as along as three years after infection.

"We already knew that measles attacks immune memory, and that it was immunosuppressive for a short amount of time. But this paper suggests that immune suppression lasts much longer than previously suspected. In other words, if you get measles, three years down the road, you could die from something that you would not die from had you not been infected with measles," said C. Jessica Metcalf, study's co-author.

Researchers examined data on deaths of children aged 1 through14 during pre and post-vaccine era in the U.S, England, Wales and Denmark. They found a strong correlation between deaths from other diseases following a measles infection during both pre and post-vaccine periods. The population data suggested that children be vulnerable for as along as three years after an infection.

It was known earlier that measles leaves the body vulnerable to other disease following for only a month as cells responsible for immune-memory, T lymphocytes are found to be absent after the infection. When they return, they are able to guard the body against measles but not against other disease. It can take as long as three years for the body's immune system to restore its memory.

The study suggests that given the low cost of measles vaccine, getting it can protect the body from a host of diseases.

"Reducing measles incidence appears to cause a drop in deaths from other infectious diseases due to indirect effects of measles infection on the human immune system. At the population level, the data suggests that when measles was rampant, it may have led to a reduction in herd immunity against other infectious diseases," Bryan Grenfell a public affairs professor said.