Background: Measles has been eliminated in Canada since 1998. Every year, the Public Health Agency of Canada presents epidemiologic evidence to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) to verify that measles elimination continues in Canada. Objective: To describe measles activity in Canada for 2015 as updated evidence for continued measles elimination status. Methods: Measles surveillance da...

Despite the existence of a highly effective measles vaccine and the decrease in worldwide deaths from measles by more than 79% from the 2000 baseline levels, measles today remains one of the leading causes of vaccine-preventable deaths in the world. The African region is a key player in the global fight against measles. Africa has made tremendous progress in its effort to immunize children and ...

In 1997, the 22 countries in the World Health Organization (WHO) Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) adopted a goal of measles elimination by 2010. To achieve this goal, the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMRO) developed a four-pronged strategy: 1) achieve ≥ 95% vaccination coverage of children with the first dose of measles-containing vaccine (MCV1) in every district ...

BACKGROUND Measles outbreaks continue to occur in Europe as a result of suboptimum vaccination coverage. This article aims to describe individuals susceptible to measles, and provide an overview of affected groups and the public settings in which measles transmission occurred in Europe in 2005-2009. METHODS Individuals susceptible to measles were described and categorized on the basis of fact...

OBJECTIVE To examine whether contracting measles from a sibling of the opposite sex affects mortality. DESIGN Prospective registration during 15-20 years of all births and deaths, including 243 measles related deaths. Measles infection was not registered; however, as in fatal cases measles was probably contracted from a maternal sibling the risk of dying during measles outbreaks was examined ...

BACKGROUND Measles remains a major public health concern in Thailand despite the introduction of vaccination since 1984. Similar to other countries, Thailand has experienced numerous measles outbreaks including adult communities such as university student dormitories, prisons, refugee camps, and military recruit camps. These outbreaks raise questions on the seroprotective antibody level in Thai...

OBJECTIVE To estimate the impact of the HIV pandemic on vaccine-acquired population immunity to measles virus because high levels of population immunity are required to eliminate transmission of measles virus in large geographical areas, and HIV infection can reduce the efficacy of measles vaccination. METHODS A literature review was conducted to estimate key parameters relating to the potent...

Measles infection in infants is associated with severe complications, and secondary infections are attributed to generalized immunosuppression. Measles binding to its monocyte receptor down-regulates IL-12 which is expected to diminish Th1-like cytokine responses, including IFN-gamma. Whether young infants can be immunized effectively against measles is an important public health issue. We eval...

Measles is a highly contagious childhood disease associated with an immunological paradox: although a strong virus-specific immune response results in virus clearance and the establishment of a life-long immunity, measles infection is followed by an acute and profound immunosuppression leading to an increased susceptibility to secondary infections and high infant mortality. In certain cases, me...

BACKGROUND Measles is the leading cause of vaccine-preventable death in Africa. Regional measles elimination is considered feasible using current vaccines and a series of WHO-recommended strategies. We aimed to interrupt transmission of measles, and to use case-based surveillance to show the effect of such interruption. METHODS In southern Africa from 1996, seven countries with a total popula...