Study Sheds Light on What Makes Measles World's Most Contagious Viral Disease

The reason why measles is so much more contagious than other respiratory viruses has been discovered by Mayo Clinic researchers.

The measles virus emerges in the trachea of its host, provoking a cough that fills the air with particles ready to infect the next host. The findings may also help in the fight against ovarian, breast and lung cancers.

Measles | Rubeola - Causes, Symptoms, Complications, Diagnosis, Treatment, Prevention
Measles is a viral infection with symptoms of fever,and rashes. Measles is prevented by vaccination and staying away from the infected individuals.

The findings give researchers insight into why some respiratory viruses spread more quickly and easily than others.

They found the measles virus uses a protein (called nectin-4) in the host to infect and then leave from the strategic location of the throat.

Despite the development of a measles vaccine, the virus continues to affect more than 10 million children each year and kills about 120,000 worldwide.

Mumps - Causes - Symptoms - Diagnosis And Treatment - FAQs
Mumps is a contagious viral infection that typically causes a painful swelling of one or more of the salivary gland. Mumps most commonly occurs in children aged 2-12 years who have not been vaccinated against the disease. However, it can occur at any age. It was a common childhood disease before the development of the mumps vaccine (MMR vaccine).

In recent years, the spread of the virus has increased due to lack of people being vaccinated, and measles is still a significant public health problem in the United States.

"The measles virus has developed a strategy of diabolic elegance," says Roberto Cattaneo, Ph.D., principal investigator of the study and Mayo Clinic molecular biologist.

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"It first hijacks immune cells patrolling the lungs to get into the host. It then travels within other immune cells everywhere in the body.

"However, the infected immune cells deliver their cargo specifically to those cells that express the protein nectin-4, the new receptor. Remarkably, those cells are located in the trachea. Thus, the virus emerges from the host exactly where needed to facilitate contagion," he added.

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The Union Government may go in for an immunisation campaign similar to pulse polio programme to administer a booster dose of measles vaccine.

The study was recently published in the journal Nature.

Source-ANI