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.

World citizen number 7 billion more likely to contract diabetes or other NCDs

World citizen number 7 billion is less likely to die from infectious diseases like measles or even AIDS, and more likely to contract diabetes or other non-communicable diseases (NCDs), as they are now the leading causes of deaths globally.

15 Nov 2011

Annual European CDC report says infectious diseases, drug resistance are concerns

"Europe's health is suffering, with around 80,000 cases of tuberculosis infection a year and serious problems with measles, HIV and threats from 'superbug' infections, an annual health report" from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said Thursday, Reuters reports.

11 Nov 2011

Beware mail order Chicken pox warn Doctors

Doctors have warned against a new trend that has emerged via social networking websites like Facebook - one that guides parents through a process of exposing their children to chicken pox, so that they can get the virus, early and avoid any need for vaccination.

7 Nov 2011

International research explains why measles virus spreads so quickly

An international collaboration involving Inserm has revealed how the measles virus leaves the body of an infected person to contaminate another individual. The researchers have identified a key receptor, located in the trachea, which allows the virus to spread through the air rapidly from one organism to another. The receptor, nectine-4, is also known to be a biomarker for some cancers.

5 Nov 2011

VOA News program examines international humanitarian aid in Horn of Africa

The VOA News audio program "Explorations" on Tuesday discussed international humanitarian aid in the Horn of Africa.

3 Nov 2011

Measles virus develops a strategy of diabolic elegance

Mayo Clinic researchers have discovered why measles, perhaps the most contagious viral disease in the world, spreads so quickly. The virus emerges in the trachea of its host, provoking a cough that fills the air with particles ready to infect the next host. The findings may also help in the fight against ovarian, breast and lung cancers.

3 Nov 2011

U.N. officials warn Yemen facing humanitarian, health disasters

High-level officials from UNICEF and the World Food Programme (WFP) this week warned that "routine immunization of children has dropped by 40 percent in some areas of Yemen, leading to outbreaks of polio and measles and reflecting a growing collapse of public services in a country that is on the brink of a humanitarian disaster," IRIN reports.

27 Oct 2011

Council on Foreign Relations releases interactive map tracking vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks

The Council on Foreign Relations' Global Health program "has released a user-friendly interactive map on the web that tracks 'Vaccine-Preventable Disease Outbreaks' around the world," Stewart Patrick, senior fellow and director of the council's Program on International Institutions and Global Governance, writes on the group's website.

27 Oct 2011

The unvaccinated population contributing to the measles outbreak

As the US faces its largest outbreak of measles in 15 years - affecting 214 children so far – new research suggests too many unvaccinated U.S. children could be the reason. Experts speculate that unfounded fears regarding safety of the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine leading to many children bring missed out could have led to this situation.

24 Oct 2011

MSF suspends measles vaccination campaign in Mogadishu area because of violence

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) last week cut short a three-week measles vaccination campaign intended to reach 35,000 children in the Daynile area near the Somali capital Mogadishu, after intense fighting erupted between the militant group al-Shabab and forces of Somalia's Transitional National Government, backed by the African Union Mission in Somalia, VOA News reports.

24 Oct 2011

SafeMinds praises UNEP's draft treaty ban on use of mercury in pharma products

SafeMinds applauds UNEP's draft treaty language which does not exempt the use of mercury in pharmaceutical products, including vaccines, from the global ban. Governmental regulators, public health officials and pharmaceutical companies have recognized that the toxicity of mercury in pharmaceutical and personal care products, to which people are directly exposed, justifies a preventive approach to minimize all exposures.

24 Oct 2011

Young docs not so keen on immunizations: Survey

A cross-sectional survey of 551 healthcare providers and noted that more recent graduates were less likely to think that vaccines were efficacious said Saad Omer, assistant professor of Emory University in Atlanta. They were also more likely to have doubts about the safety of some vaccines, Omer told reporters at the 49th annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA).

20 Oct 2011

Molecular switch activates anti-viral innate immune response

When a thief breaks into a bank vault, sensors are activated and the alarm is raised. Cells have their own early-warning system for intruders, and scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Grenoble, France, have discovered how a particular protein sounds that alarm when it detects invading viruses.

15 Oct 2011

WHO reports several large measles outbreaks in Europe, Africa

The WHO reported on Friday "that several large measles outbreaks have continued to spread in the past six months in Europe and Africa, and to a lesser degree in the Americas," the U.N. Media Centre reports.

11 Oct 2011

WHO facing shortage of funds as it works to scale up humanitarian response to Pakistan flooding

WHO representative Guido Sabatinelli has assured Pakistan health officials that the organization "will be scaling up its humanitarian response in all the flood-affected areas of Sindh to resolve health issues faced by the displaced people," News International reports.

11 Oct 2011

UMass Amherst SPHHS wins HHS award to create Public Health Training Center

Training to improve the nation's public health system by strengthening the technical, scientific, managerial and leadership competence of current and future public health workers will soon be underway in Springfield, Holyoke, Pittsfield and the Berkshires, supported by a four-year, $2.5 million grant to the School of Public Health and Health Sciences (SPHHS) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

10 Oct 2011

Parents choosing alternative vaccine schedules for their kids: Survey

According to a new study some parents choose alternative schedules for vaccinating their children and yet others decide their own vaccine timelines.

4 Oct 2011

Viewpoints: Sebelius on improving care; Samuelson on health costs; Durenberger on exporting U.S. system

Far too many Americans still go without the best care. That's why the Obama administration has joined with Truman Medical Centers and more than 2,500 other hospitals nationwide, along with thousands of employers, health insurers, provider organizations and patient advocates, to launch the Partnership for Patients … Over the next three years, we will reduce preventable injuries in hospitals by 40 percent. And we will cut hospital re-admissions by 20 percent, targeting the return trips that should never have occurred.

1 Oct 2011

Researchers determine structure of RIG-I protein linked with viral infections

Researchers at Rutgers and UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School have determined the structure of a protein that is the first line of defense in fighting viral infections including influenza, hepatitis C, West Nile, rabies, and measles.

30 Sep 2011

Food aid reaches almost half of Somalis in need but threat of disease looms, U.N. agency says

"The U.N. on Wednesday said food assistance has reached nearly half the Somalis in need, and it warned cases of diarrhea and cholera could spike with the seasonal rains expected in October," the Associated Press reports.

30 Sep 2011