• @pageflight
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    74 hours ago

    Quite the virus:

    Measles is one of the most contagious diseases known. The virus travels through the air and can linger in the airspace of a room for up to two hours after an infected person has been present. Among unvaccinated people exposed to the virus, 90 percent will become infected.

    In the US, about 20 percent of people with measles are typically hospitalized. Five percent develop pneumonia, and up to 3 in 1,000 die of the infection. Later in life, measles can also cause a fatal disease of the central nervous system called Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis. And the virus can erase immune responses to other infections (a phenomenon known as immune amnesia), making people vulnerable to various illnesses.

    From Beth Mole at Ars.