As measles cases surge worldwide, experts are raising alarms about a lesser-known danger: immune amnesia.
The highly contagious virus doesn’t just cause a rash and fever — it can also wipe out the immune system’s memory, leaving survivors vulnerable to infections they’ve fought off before, like the flu, a cold, or even diseases they’ve been vaccinated against.
Health Canada warns that measles can lead to serious immune suppression, known as immune amnesia. This can increase the risk of other illnesses and even raise the chances of death for months or even years after the infection, the health agency states on its website.
“Immune amnesia basically destroys your immune system. And with respect to the measles virus, it can infect the cells that process the memories or prior immune or viral infection and other pathogens, it can infect those cells and kill the cells, so it erases the actual physical memory,” explained Stephen J. Elledge, a …