OBJECTIVE To examine the protective efficacy of measles vaccination in infants in a low income country before 9 months of age. DESIGN Randomised clinical trial. PARTICIPANTS 1333 infants aged 4.5 months: 441 in treatment group and 892 in control group. SETTING Urban area in Guinea-Bissau. INTERVENTION Measles vaccination using standard titre Edmonston-Zagreb vaccine at 4.5 months of age...

After the 1988 measles outbreak, annual notification rates for measles in Hong Kong SAR between 1989 and 1999 were 0.4-4.9 per 100 000, with peaks in 1992, 1994 and 1997. The first half-year incidence rates per 100 000 were 2.3 in 1997, 0.5 in 1995 and 1.2 in 1996. Monthly notification rates increased from a baseline of <10 cases to 59 in May 1997. Serological surveillance showed only 85.5% of ...

T o the Editor: The article on vaccine “exemptors” by Dr Feikin and colleagues’ concludes that 11% of the vaccinated children who contracted measles (11% of 137 during a 12-year period, or about 1.25 per year) were infected by an exemptor. The annual risk that a vaccinated child would contract measles from an exemptor would thus be about 1 in 1 million if the incidence were equal in all years. ...

The estimation of the global burden of measles is challenging in the absence of reliable and comparable surveillance systems worldwide. A static model is described that enables estimation of measles morbidity, mortality, and disability for the year 2000 on the basis of country-specific information (i.e., demographic profile, vaccine coverage, and estimates of case-fatality ratios). This approac...

In 2011, the 46 World Health Organization (WHO) African Region (AFR) member states established a goal of measles elimination* by 2020, by achieving 1) ≥95% coverage of their target populations with the first dose of measles-containing vaccine (MCV1) at national and district levels; 2) ≥95% coverage with measles-containing vaccine (MCV) per district during supplemental immunization activities (S...

BACKGROUND Changes in the epidemiologic and clinical features of measles have resulted in diagnostic difficulties in distinguishing between measles and other rash and fever illnesses such as rubella. The objectives of this article are to report the true morbidity and epidemiologic and clinical features of measles and rubella, provide objective diagnostic indicators for distinguishing between th...

The nucleotide sequences of either the hemagglutinin or nucleoprotein genes from wild type measles viruses isolated in the United States between 1989 and 1992 differed by < 0.5%. This suggests that the majority of viruses associated with resurgence of measles in the United States belonged to a single indigenous genotype. In contrast, wild type viruses isolated from sporadic outbreaks of measles...

Measles virus (MV) is a highly contagious respiratory pathogen that causes systemic disease; most individuals recover with lifelong immunity to MV. Enormous progress toward measles elimination has been made worldwide, in large part due to the availability of a safe and effective vaccine (CDC, 2000; WHO, 2005; 2009; 2010). However, measles infections still cause 500,000 deaths annually, mostly d...

Measles is a highly contagious and severe disease. Despite mass vaccination, it remains a leading cause of death in children in developing regions, killing 114,900 globally in 2014. In 2006, China committed to eliminating measles by 2012; to this end, the country enhanced its mandatory vaccination programs and achieved vaccination rates reported above 95% by 2008. However, in spite of these eff...

Background.  In 1994, Canada committed to eliminate measles by the year 2000. This report presents the epidemiology of measles in Canada between 2002 and 2013 and its implications in sustaining measles elimination. Methods.  Cases included individuals reported to the Canadian Measles and Rubella Surveillance System with confirmed measles. Results.  In Canada, 1171 cases of measles were reported...