Measles outbreak in the Americas

Fraser, Barbara

doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(18)31727-6

Cited by 13 publications

(11 citation statements)

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“…Of all cases reported by Brazil’s Ministry of Health in the state of Roraima through May 2018, a total of 68% corresponded to refugees from Venezuela, and 52.7% were in Warao Amerindians ( 24 ). Although Brazil has a free vaccination program with high coverage levels, a recent decrease in polio and measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination rates, linked to local antivaccine movements ( 28 , 29 ) and government underfunding of the healthcare system ( 30 ), are worrisome and might worsen the current measles outbreak ( 28 , 29 ).…”

Section: Measlesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The weakening of Venezuela’s public health services has led to a breakdown of epidemiologic surveillance systems along with an interruption of the national immunization program, resulting in the decay of infection control practices. In addition, the ongoing massive internal and external exodus of Venezuela residents has become the amplifying factor of these outbreaks beyond Venezuela’s borders ( 8 , 24 , 26 , 29 , 49 ).…”

Section: Addressing the Vaccine-preventable Disease Crisis In Venezuelamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Resurgence of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases in Venezuela as a Regional Public Health Threat in the Americas

Paniz‐Mondolfi

Tami

Grillet

et al. 2019

Emerg. Infect. Dis.

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Venezuela’s tumbling economy and authoritarian rule have precipitated an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. Hyperinflation rates now exceed 45,000%, and Venezuela’s health system is in free fall. The country is experiencing a massive exodus of biomedical scientists and qualified healthcare professionals. Reemergence of arthropod-borne and vaccine-preventable diseases has sparked serious epidemics that also affect neighboring countries. In this article, we discuss the ongoing epidemics of measles and diphtheria in Venezuela and their disproportionate impact on indigenous populations. We also discuss the potential for reemergence of poliomyelitis and conclude that action to halt the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases within Venezuela is a matter of urgency for the country and the region. We further provide specific recommendations for addressing this crisis.

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Section: Measlesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Addressing the Vaccine-preventable Disease Crisis In Venezuelamentioning

confidence: 99%

Resurgence of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases in Venezuela as a Regional Public Health Threat in the Americas

Paniz‐Mondolfi

Tami

Grillet

et al. 2019

Emerg. Infect. Dis.

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“…In the biological context, this parallel allows the use of complex contagions to effectively quantify the non-trivial interactions of infectious diseases.On September 27th 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that measles had been eliminated from the Americas [1]. Less than two years later, an outbreak of the disease in Venezuela sparked an epidemic across South America, which is ongoing and has sickened tens-of-thousands [2][3][4]. Concurrently, the number of measles cases has increased in all but one of the WHO regions [5], over 80,000 cases (with a hospitalisation rate >60%) occurred in the European Union [6], and the United States of America experienced 17 measles outbreaks [2,7].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Macroscopic patterns of interacting contagions are indistinguishable from social reinforcement

2020

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From fake news to innovative technologies, many contagions spread via a process of social reinforcement, where multiple exposures are distinct from prolonged exposure to a single source. Contrarily, biological agents such as Ebola or measles are typically thought to spread as simple contagions. Here, we demonstrate that interacting simple contagions are indistinguishable from complex contagions. In the social context, our results highlight the challenge of identifying and quantifying mechanisms, such as social reinforcement, in a world where an innumerable amount of ideas, memes and behaviors interact. In the biological context, this parallel allows the use of complex contagions to effectively quantify the non-trivial interactions of infectious diseases.On September 27th 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that measles had been eliminated from the Americas [1]. Less than two years later, an outbreak of the disease in Venezuela sparked an epidemic across South America, which is ongoing and has sickened tens-of-thousands [2][3][4]. Concurrently, the number of measles cases has increased in all but one of the WHO regions [5], over 80,000 cases (with a hospitalisation rate >60%) occurred in the European Union [6], and the United States of America experienced 17 measles outbreaks [2,7]. The majority of these cases occurred in unvaccinated individuals [8][9][10]. From collapsing public health infrastructure [11] and lack of access to vaccines [4] to non-medical exemptions, e.g., religious beliefs [12,13], and the spread of fraudulent science [14-16], the precise reason individuals go unvaccinated are myriad; however, underlying all these mechanisms is the coupled transmission of two contagions, one biological and one-or more-social.Clearly, contagions never occur in a vacuum, instead pathogens and ideas interact with each other and with externalities such as host connectivity, behaviour, and mobility. Nevertheless, many biological contagions are still considered to be "simple", where infectious individuals transmit to susceptible individuals independently of anything else occurring around the individuals, susceptible and/or infectious, in question [17]. In complex contagions, however, the spreading mechanism explicitly depends on the context of transmission events, usually via the neighbourhood of the susceptible individuals, such that pairwise information becomes insufficient to model the transmission process [18,19]. For example, social reinforcement can lead to a transmission rate effectively proportional to the number of different infectious contacts to which a susceptible individual is exposed [20]. This mechanistic difference creates a false dichotomy, forcing us to choose the mechanism we think best describe the reality of a given contagion. In practice, the context of transmission events always matters.When modeling a contagion, the choice of mechanism is critical because simple and complex contagions tend to induce substantially different dynamics and can lead to incompatible conclusions about i...

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“…For example, illegal gold mining is believed to have been responsible for many Yanomami deaths related to infection in northern Brazil and Venezuela since the 1980s, including fatal measles and malaria infections as recently as 2019. 15,16 Yanomami leaders now allege that their first COVID-19 fatality was due to exposure to infected gold miners. 9 Illegal resource extraction might also be increasing during the pandemic because of decreased government surveillance and enforcement, resulting in even greater exploitation of indigenous territories and fatal clashes with indigenous communities than before the pandemic.…”

Section: Indigenous Populations: Vulnerabilities and Resiliencementioning

confidence: 99%

Voluntary collective isolation as a best response to COVID-19 for indigenous populations? A case study and protocol from the Bolivian Amazon

et al. 2020

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Indigenous communities worldwide share common features that make them especially vulnerable to the complications of and mortality from COVID-19. They also possess resilient attributes that can be leveraged to promote prevention efforts. How can indigenous communities best mitigate potential devastating effects of COVID-19? In Bolivia, where nearly half of all citizens claim indigenous origins, no specific guidelines have been outlined for indigenous communities inhabiting native communal territories. In this Public Health article, we describe collaborative efforts, as anthropologists, physicians, tribal leaders, and local officials, to develop and implement a multiphase COVID-19 prevention and containment plan focused on voluntary collective isolation and contact-tracing among Tsimane forager-horticulturalists in the Bolivian Amazon. Phase 1 involves education, outreach, and preparation, and phase 2 focuses on containment, patient management, and quarantine. Features of this plan might be exported and adapted to local circumstances elsewhere to prevent widespread mortality in indigenous communities.

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Measles outbreak in the Americas

Cited by 13 publications

References 0 publications

Resurgence of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases in Venezuela as a Regional Public Health Threat in the Americas

Resurgence of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases in Venezuela as a Regional Public Health Threat in the Americas

Macroscopic patterns of interacting contagions are indistinguishable from social reinforcement

Voluntary collective isolation as a best response to COVID-19 for indigenous populations? A case study and protocol from the Bolivian Amazon

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