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.

Specific antibody patterns predict schizophrenia risk

The presence of antibodies to multiple foods and infectious agents is a risk marker for new-onset schizophrenia, a case-control study suggests.

23 Oct 2013

Measles-containing vaccines administered at 12-5 months of age associated with reduced risk of fever, seizures

Children receiving measles-containing vaccines at 12-15 months of age have a lower increased risk of fever and seizures than those who receive them at 16-23 months of age, according to a new Kaiser Permanente study published in JAMA Pediatrics.

15 Oct 2013

Research recommends that pediatricians respect parents' rights in making case for immunization

Controversy about the risks of measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines has been rumbling in the United States for years -- and now it's Israel's turn. After finding traces of the polio virus in sewage, Israel's Ministry of Health launched a national vaccination campaign that reached more than half a million children. Surprisingly, dissenting voices flooded social media and the mainstream news, calling for a halt to the campaign.

2 Oct 2013

Patients treated by ID physicians less likely to die in hospital

In a first-of-its-kind study to evaluate the impact of a medical specialty on patient outcomes, researchers found that hospitalized patients with severe infections such as meningitis and Clostridium difficile are significantly less likely to die if they receive care from an infectious diseases specialist. The study, which analyzed nearly 130,000 Medicare patient cases, is now available online and will be published in the December 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases.

30 Sep 2013

FDA expands Hizentra administration options for people with primary immunodeficiency

CSL Behring announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has expanded the administration options for Hizentra, Immune Globulin Subcutaneous (Human), 20% Liquid, to include dosing once every two weeks (biweekly) for people diagnosed with primary immunodeficiency.

28 Sep 2013

University of Maryland receives renewed NIH funding for vaccine research

The University of Maryland School of Medicine's Center for Vaccine Development (CVD) has successfully competed for and received a renewed contract to conduct basic research and clinical studies of vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics. Support for this work to combat existing and emerging infectious diseases is provided by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

27 Sep 2013

New report shows 6.6 million children under 5 died in 2012

In 2012, approximately 6.6 million children worldwide - 18 000 children per day - died before reaching their fifth birthday, according to a new report released today by UNICEF, WHO, the World Bank Group and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs/Population Division. This is roughly half the number of under-fives who died in 1990, when more than 12 million children died.

13 Sep 2013

State highlights: Texas Gov. Perry touts tort reform; Calif. lawmakers want to pass 100 bills per day

A measles outbreak in a vaccination-wary North Texas megachurch and soaring rates of whooping cough across the state are drawing renewed calls for immunization legislation, which some lawmakers and medical professionals argue would help the state prevent public health crises (Aaronson, 9/10).

11 Sep 2013

Pain, itching associated with shingles may be due to virus causing "short circuit" in nerve cells

The pain and itching associated with shingles and herpes may be due to the virus causing a "short circuit" in the nerve cells that reach the skin, Princeton researchers have found.

11 Sep 2013

First Edition: September 10, 2013

Today's headlines include reports from Capitol Hill about the GOP strategy to link debate of a stopgap spending bill to keep the government operating to efforts to defund the health law.

10 Sep 2013

Safety and health checklist to help kids avoid emergency room

With the school year underway, Children's Hospital Los Angeles experts have developed a safety and health checklist to help kids avoid the emergency room and develop productive extracurricular and learning activities to enhance the classroom experience. What do parents need to consider? Many symptoms of childhood conditions are often discovered in the classroom.

7 Sep 2013

Apoptosis can reactivate latent herpesviruses in dying cell

Researchers have found that apoptosis, a natural process of programmed cell death, can reactivate latent herpesviruses in the dying cell. The results of their research, which could have broad clinical significance since many cancer chemotherapies cause apoptosis, was published ahead of print in the Journal of Virology.

6 Sep 2013

Viewpoints: GOP trapped between angry base and reality of health law; small businesses 'scrambling;' competing views of Medicaid expansion in Va.

Recent political reporting suggests that Republican leaders are in a state of high anxiety, trapped between an angry base that still views Obamacare as the moral equivalent of slavery and the reality that health reform is the law of the land and is going to happen (Paul Krugman, 8/18).

20 Aug 2013

Researchers study how human herpes virus packages genetic information during infection

An international collaboration of researchers including Felicia Goodrum of the University of Arizona's immunobiology department has studied how a human herpes virus carried by the majority of the population packages its genetic information during infection.

31 Jul 2013

FDA approves Astellas' ASTAGRAF XL for prophylaxis of organ rejection in kidney transplant patients

Astellas Pharma US, Inc., a U.S. subsidiary of Tokyo-based Astellas Pharma Inc., announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved ASTAGRAF XLTM (tacrolimus extended-release capsules) for the prophylaxis of organ rejection in patients receiving a kidney transplant with mycophenolate mofetil and corticosteroids, with or without basiliximab induction.

20 Jul 2013

Viewpoints: Does your doctor favor more expensive drugs?; Texas Sen. Wendy Davis says abortion law threatens 'health and safety' of women

Your doctor hands you a prescription for a blood pressure drug. But is it the right one for you? You're searching for a new primary-care physician or a specialist. Is there a way you can know whether the doctor is more partial to expensive, brand-name drugs than his peers? (Tracy Weber and Charles Ornstein, 7/16).

17 Jul 2013

Viewpoints: GOP should focus on fixing health law; bishops refuse to accept victory

Los Angeles Times: It's Time To Focus On Fixing The Affordable Care Act, Not Gutting It Conservatives have married their political fortunes to the notion that Obamacare is a catastrophe and must be discarded in its entirety -; even though some of the signature elements of the law, such as a requirement that most people be insured, are ideas that they originated.

15 Jul 2013

Immunization in developing countries: an interview with Dr. Jos Vandelaer, Chief of Immunization for UNICEF

Overall, worldwide, immunization programs reach around 83% of all children – this is an enormous achievement. With this level of immunization coverage, we prevent over 2 million deaths, year after year. This statistic is often forgotten or taken for granted.

11 Jul 2013

MMR booster does not result in worse JIA disease activity in children

Among children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis who had undergone primary immunization, the use of a measles-mumps-rubella booster compared with no booster did not result in worse JIA disease activity, according to a study in the June 19 issue of JAMA.

19 Jun 2013

International researchers solve three-dimensional structure of respiratory syncytial virus

Young children and the elderly are especially susceptible to respiratory syncytial virus. The three-dimensional structure of respiratory syncytial virus has been solved by an international team from Finland and Switzerland.

18 Jun 2013