Measles News and Research

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Measles is a highly contagious, serious disease caused by a virus. It remains a leading cause of death among young children globally, despite the availability of a safe and effective vaccine. An estimated 197 000 people died from measles in 2007, mostly children under the age of five.

Measles is caused by a virus in the paramyxovirus family. The measles virus normally grows in the cells that line the back of the throat and the lungs. It is a human disease not known to occur in animals.

Benefits of routine childhood immunizations far outweigh the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission

The health benefits of maintaining routine childhood vaccination programmes in Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic far outweigh the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission that might be associated with clinic visits, according to a modelling study published in The Lancet Global Health journal.

19 Jul 2020

Likelihood of SARS-CoV-2 transmission may depend on blood type of spreader and recipient

A modeling study by Dr. Peter Ellis from the University of Kent indicates that ABO incompatibility between infected patients and susceptible individuals may actually decrease the transmissibility of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) by 60% or more. His detailed investigation of such "ABO-interference" can be found on the medRxiv preprint server.

15 Jul 2020

A new measles-based COVID-19 vaccine

Now, a new study by researchers from Germany's Paul Ehrlich Institute and published on the preprint server bioRxiv in July 2020 describes a potential vaccine based on the measles vaccine, which elicits both an antibody response and cellular immunity against the virus. This also protects against the measles virus. This could be a significant weapon in the fight against these two threats.

14 Jul 2020

Colorado, like other states, trims health programs amid health crisis

As a teenager, Paulina Castle struggled for years with suicidal thoughts. When her mental health was at its most fragile, she would isolate herself, spending days in her room alone.

10 Jul 2020

Research suggests protective effect of influenza vaccine against COVID-19 severity and mortality

A new study involving over 92,000 patients with COVID-19 in Brazil shows that the odds of severe disease, ventilatory support requirement, and death are reduced with a recent trivalent flu vaccine. This seems to indicate that these vaccines should be used as widely as possible to reduce the risk of severe COVID-19, especially among high-risk groups. The study is published on the preprint server medRxiv* in June 2020.

5 Jul 2020

Herd immunity in the U.S. unlikely

The race to develop an effective vaccine against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is on, with many vaccine candidates entering the human trial phase. When a vaccine is developed and introduced into the population at scale, it triggers herd immunity, with many people immune to the infectious disease.

30 Jun 2020

Live attenuated vaccines may prevent lung inflammation and sepsis associated with COVID-19

A paper published by Paul Fidel, Jr., PhD, Professor and Director of the Center of Excellence in Oral and Craniofacial Biology and Associate Dean for Research at LSU Health New Orleans School of Dentistry, and Mairi Noverr, PhD, Professor of Microbiology & Immunology at Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, suggests that live attenuated vaccines such as MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) may prevent the severe lung inflammation and sepsis associated with COVID-19 infection.

26 Jun 2020

Early childhood vaccinations may offer protection against COVID-19

A group of Lithuanian and Kurdish scientists have raised a hypothesis that the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine could protect children from COVID-19.

25 Jun 2020

MMR vaccine could offer protection against COVID-19

Administering the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine could serve as a preventive measure to dampen septic inflammation associated with COVID-19 infection, say a team of experts in this week's mBio, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology.

19 Jun 2020

At a time of great need, public health lacks ‘lobbying muscle’

If there were ever a time for more public health funding, health experts say, it's now.

15 Jun 2020

Study shows 1 in 15 parents is hesitant about routine childhood vaccines

A national study measuring parental attitudes toward vaccinations found 6.1% were hesitant about routine childhood immunizations while nearly 26% were hesitant about the influenza vaccine.

15 Jun 2020

New strategy may facilitate development of multi-epitope peptide vaccine against SARS-CoV-2

By combining T and B lymphocyte analysis with manufacturability heuristic, researchers from the US and Germany proposed a set of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccine peptides to use in subsequent animal studies and clinical trials. Their paper is currently available on the bioRxiv preprint server.

7 Jun 2020

Study highlights the importance of child vaccine against infections

In the U.S., our children rarely fall ill to grave infections because they are protected by vaccines.

2 Jun 2020

UW creates free, online course for contact tracing to help combat COVID-19

As businesses and public spaces reopen across the nation, the old-school public health detective work known as contact tracing is becoming a major component of the battle to contain the novel coronavirus that causes the deadly COVID-19 disease.

29 May 2020

Revolutionary air disinfection system protects dentists against COVID-19

Eschmann Technologies has launched a revolutionary air disinfection system developed by Novaerus to help protect dentists against the spread of airborne viruses such as COVID-19.

22 May 2020

Prediction of incubation period for COVID-19 and other viruses

A new study published on the preprint server bioRxiv* in May 2020 provides a method to estimate the incubation period for any new pathogen, which could help to define the optimal quarantine period necessary to keep the spread of the causative agent in check.

22 May 2020

Analysis: Get ready for the vaccine — they’re never simple

If there is a silver lining to the flawed U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic, it is this: The relatively high number of new cases being diagnosed daily — upward of 20,000 — will make it easier to test new vaccines.

21 May 2020

Main receptors used by SARS-CoV-2 for cell entry are absent in the human placenta

Although severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is unlikely to infect human placenta through the canonical cell entry mediators, Wayne State University researchers showed that other interacting proteins may still play an important role during the viral infection. The study is currently available on the preprint server bioRxiv.

20 May 2020

Kids missing measles shots due to coronavirus pandemic

A year ago, the United States saw the highest annual number of measles cases since 1992, with 1,249 cases reported. Of these, 89 percent of the measles patients were unvaccinated or had an unknown vaccination status. Now, fears of another measles outbreak in the country loom as the coronavirus pandemic indirectly is causing a drop in measles vaccinations.

20 May 2020

New map shows that distrust in health expertise could dominate online conversations

Communities on Facebook that distrust establishment health guidance are more effective than government health agencies and other reliable health groups at reaching and engaging "undecided" individuals, according to a study published today in the journal Nature.

14 May 2020