Science video explains what measles is, how it affects the body and why you should vaccinate against it

Mar 4, 2015 13:43 GMT  ·  By

There's been a lot of talk about vaccines these past few weeks, and as was to be expected, the topic of measles also came up. Just in case some of you are interested to learn more about this infectious disease, here is a brilliant animation explaining what it does and how it affects the body.

As detailed in the video, measles is essentially a virus. This means that, like all other microorganisms of this kind, it cannot reproduce by itself. To do so, it must find a cell, take over it and turn it into a factory whose only job is to make more measles.

Measles enters the body through the nose, mouth or eyes. However, infection actually starts in the lungs. When inside the body, this virus first infects warriors of the immune system known as macrophages. Once these cells are down, it sets up camp in lung cells.

Interestingly enough, measles actually uses specialized cells of the immune system to travel further in the body. Thus, it hijacks them and then lets them take it to various tissues. Simply put, this virus turns our very own immune system against us.

Having entered the bloodstream, it is only a matter of time until measles moves to organs such as the spleen, the liver and even to our intestines. In extreme cases, the virus reaches the brain and badly damages it. Mind you, it can even cause death.