Were literally seeing new forms of measles: Infectious disease doc warns about scary Pennsylvania development

Pennsylvania’s measles outbreak has taken a disturbing turn.The highly contagious disease has ripped through communities across the Keystone State in recent months, sickening hundreds, sending scores to the hospital and claiming four lives.Now, as the virus continues to spread, doctors are seeing it turn up in patients they rarely encountered before — and learning how to treat them in real time. Enter: Congenital measles, a potentially life-threatening condition that occurs when a mother who is infected around the time of delivery passes the virus onto her baby in the womb or during birth.For much of history, cases like these were rare.

Before vaccines, most people were infected with measles during childhood, so women typically had lasting natural immunity by the time they had children of their own.Later, widespread vaccination provided that same protection without requiring people to contract the disease.But measles, once declared eliminated in the US, is making a comeback nationwide as vaccination rates decline and fewer young adults have natural immunity from prior infection.“Because of this, we’re literally seeing new forms of measles,” Dr John Goldman, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, told The Guardian.

“We don’t have a lot of information about what happens with it.”Just last month, a woman with measles in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, delivered a stillborn baby who died from a ruptured spleen in a case the coroner classified as a measles-associated death.The midwife who attended the birth told the mother that the baby’s death was linked to her severe case of measles and lack of vaccination, according to The Atlantic.Measles during pregnancy can increase the risk of pregnancy loss, premature delivery and low birth weight.

Up to 30% of babies whose mothers are infected around the time of delivery may also contract the virus, putting them at risk for serious illness.“Congenital measles typi...