As measles outbreaks continue to flare worldwide, viral immunologists have made a discovery they say underscores like never before the crucial need to protect children through vaccination.

It appears that acquiring a measles infection actually ‘resets’ the immune system, leaving patients vulnerable to other dangerous micro-organisms such as influenza, diphtheria and tuberculosis.

In two separate studies, scientists have demonstrated what they are calling the ‘immune amnesia’ effect of measles infection.

Researchers from the Wellcome Sanger Institute and University of Amsterdam took blood samples from 82 ­unvaccinated children from an Orthodox Protestant community in the Netherlands before and after a measles outbreak in 2013.