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.

WHO identifies non-communicable diseases as major threat to human health

Second on the list are non-communicable diseases including cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes etc. The WHO report states that around 70 percent of the deaths are caused by these non-communicable diseases.

21 Jan 2019

Enemy number 1 - Air pollution and climate change top of WHO agenda

The World Health Organization (WHO has come up with a list of 10 major threats that are to affect the global population in 2019. Some of these include problems arising from air pollution and climate change which is slated to be the top threat.

21 Jan 2019

Anti-vaccination movement one of the top health threats in 2019 says WHO

The World Health Organization (WHO) has created a list of health threats for the New Year. Interestingly, Anti-vaccination movement has featured among the top threats to the world. The anti-vaccination movement comprises of a group of people who are reluctant to getting vaccinated and refuse to vaccinate themselves or their children against vaccine preventable infections.

17 Jan 2019

Schizophrenia patients have higher levels of antibodies against Epstein-Barr virus, study shows

New research from Johns Hopkins Medicine and Sheppard Pratt Health System shows that people in the study with schizophrenia also have higher levels of antibodies against the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), a herpes virus that causes infectious mononucleosis, so-called mono.

9 Jan 2019

Study finds reason for increased public resistance against vaccination

Why is it so challenging to increase the number of people who get vaccinated? How does popular resistance to vaccination remain strong even as preventable diseases make a comeback?

9 Jan 2019

New vaccine shows promise against chikungunya virus

A live vaccine genetically engineered from a common measles vaccine promises to be effective against the chikungunya virus. Such is the central finding of a recently completed Phase II trial now published in the prestigious journal "The Lancet".

21 Dec 2018

New model could cure the potential to underestimate how quickly diseases spread

Researchers from the New York University Tandon School of Engineering and Politecnico di Torino, Italy, have developed a mathematical model that could cure the potential to underestimate how quickly diseases spread.

13 Dec 2018

Progress in meningitis lags far behind other vaccine-preventable diseases, analysis shows

The global disease burden of meningitis remains unacceptably high, and progress lags substantially behind that of other vaccine-preventable diseases, warns a new analysis published in The Lancet Neurology.

15 Nov 2018

All infectious diseases likely to be seasonal

A new study has suggested that all infectious diseases are driven by seasonal elements, based on an analysis of 69 infectious diseases.

9 Nov 2018

InDevR's new VaxArray to improve potency testing for measles and rubella vaccines

InDevR announced today that it will pursue proof of concept development for new VaxArray potency assays for measles and rubella vaccines sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

8 Nov 2018

Rubella eliminated from Australia confirms WHO

The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed that Australia has managed to eliminate the viral infection rubella from its population. This is a significant achievement on part of the country’s healthcare system. WHO defines elimination of a disease as “reduction to zero of the incidence of infection caused by a specific agent in a defined geographical area”.

2 Nov 2018

Measles can be deadly for people with weakened immune systems

Last year, a 26-year-old man receiving treatment for leukemia went to a Swiss hospital's emergency room with a fever, a sore throat, and a cough, and was admitted. His condition worsened, and 17 days later, he died from severe complications of measles.

1 Nov 2018

Getting right level of leptin may help protect cardiovascular health

Like that famous bowl of porridge, when leptin levels are "just right" they help protect our cardiovascular health, scientists say.

29 Oct 2018

Themis, Max-Planck-Innovation sign license agreement to develop and commercialize oncolytic virotherapies

Themis announced today that it has entered into a license agreement with Max-Planck-Innovation GmbH, the technology transfer agency of the Max Planck Society in Germany, granting it exclusive worldwide license to develop, manufacture and commercialize therapies based on an oncolytic measles virus platform that was jointly developed by the Eberhard-Karls-University Tübingen and the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

11 Oct 2018

The feds’ termination of a tiny contract inflames bitter fight over fetal tissue

Federal health officials announced late last month they had terminated their contract with a company that supplies human fetal tissue for medical research and were checking that similar contracts, as well as studies conducted with that tissue, comply with federal law.

8 Oct 2018

Research finds drop in number of measles cases in the EU/EEA since March 2018

During the month of July, a total of 758 cases of measles were reported across seventeen countries in the EU/EEA, which is a decrease from the 1054 cases reported during the month of June.

21 Sep 2018

Healthcare budget cuts contribute significantly to resurgence of measles

Recent trends show that primary reason for the measles outbreak, affecting several European countries, is the decline in vaccination coverage, for which mainly the 'spread of anti-scientific theories' can be blamed. However, it turns out it is not the only one.

12 Sep 2018

Immunization shots effective at preventing measles

High fever. Cough. Runny nose. Red, watery eyes. It may not be the flu. It could be measles.

30 Aug 2018

FDA warns consumers and pet owners not to use drug products made by King Bio

The Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers and pet owners not to use drug products, including homeopathic drug products, made by King Bio Inc., Asheville, N.C., and labeled as Dr. King's, as these products may pose a safety risk to people (especially infants, children, pregnant women and those with compromised immune systems), as well as pets due to high levels of microbial contamination identified at the manufacturing site.

29 Aug 2018