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.

Survey of home healthcare practices related to infection control

A healthy boy was infected with antibiotic-resistant bacterium that was traced to his mother's nurse's bag left in the family's car after his mother's home healthcare visit to a patient with the same infection. Although the boy's infection and the patient's infection were never DNA tested, the coincidence was remarkable.

26 Jun 2012

Zimbabwe launches week-long immunization campaign with funding from Japan

"Zimbabwe embarked on a massive immunization campaign against measles and polio on Monday, targeting about two million children under the age of five," VOA News reports.

20 Jun 2012

Researchers outline strategy and benchmarks to curb childhood preventable deaths

Preventable childhood deaths caused by illnesses such as pneumonia and diarrhea can be nearly eliminated in 10 years according to researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the National Institutes of Health. In a new commentary featured in the June issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers outline a strategy and benchmarks for curbing childhood preventable deaths and recommend a new common vision for a global commitment to end all preventable child deaths.

15 Jun 2012

GAVI Alliance pledges up to $162M to control, prevent measles outbreaks in developing countries

"Seeking to address the devastating resurgence of measles, the GAVI Alliance will provide up to an additional $162 million to control and prevent outbreaks in developing countries," a GAVI press release reports, noting, "This funding will help countries bridge critical gaps in their efforts to build sustainable systems to control this deadly disease."

15 Jun 2012

Risk of recurrent shingles episode is relatively low: Study

People who have had an episode of herpes zoster, also known as shingles, face a relatively low short-term risk of developing shingles, according to a Kaiser Permanente Southern California study published online in the Journal of Infectious Diseases. These findings suggest that among people with immune systems that have not been compromised, the risk of a second shingles episode is low.

5 Jun 2012

UCSF scientists aim to use embryonic stem cells for treatment of neuropathic pain

Chronic pain, by definition, is difficult to manage, but a new study by UCSF scientists shows how a cell therapy might one day be used not only to quell some common types of persistent and difficult-to-treat pain, but also to cure the conditions that give rise to them.

25 May 2012

Haitian government, health workers show commitment to nationwide vaccination campaign

In this post in the Huffington Post Blog, Dagfinn Hoybraten, vice president of the Norwegian Parliament and chair of the GAVI Alliance Board, examines a nationwide vaccination campaign in Haiti, through which "health officials are targeting measles, rubella and polio and [are] also introducing pentavalent vaccine, one shot against five diseases."

17 May 2012

World health statistics 2012 report puts spotlight on growing problem of NCD burden

The World health statistics 2012 report, released today, puts the spotlight on the growing problem of the noncommunicable diseases burden.

16 May 2012

Reuters examines use of statistics in public health ahead of WHO report

"Above all else, analyzing the state of the world's health -- be it by looking at obesity rates, cancer cases, malaria deaths, or HIV-free births -- requires decent statistics," Reuters reports in an article examining the use of statistics in public health ahead of the release of the WHO's World Health Statistics report.

16 May 2012

Most deaths in children under 5 from preventable infectious causes, study suggests

"Most deaths of young children around the world are from mainly preventable infectious causes," according to a study published in the Lancet on Friday, BBC News reports.

11 May 2012

RNP granules exit the nucleus via new budding mechanism akin to herpes-type viruses

New evidence published in Cell by Vivian Budnik, PhD, Melissa J. Moore, PhD, and colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, reveals a novel budding mechanism, similar to the process used by some viruses, capable of exporting large ribonucleoprotein particles from the nucleus to the cytoplasm.

11 May 2012

Report identifies challenges, solutions to increasing routine vaccination in Nigeria

In this post in PSI's "Healthy Lives" blog, Deputy Editor Tom Murphy examines routine vaccination solutions in Nigeria, where "the Decade of Vaccines Economics projects 90 percent vaccine coverage against Hib, pneumococcal disease, rotavirus, measles and pertussis can save 600,000 lives and $17 billion in Nigeria over the next 10 years."

10 May 2012

HIV/AIDS funding does not undermine efforts to fight other diseases, study suggests

"While the battle against HIV/AIDS attracts more donor funding globally than all other diseases combined, it has not diverted attention from fighting unrelated afflictions -- such as malaria, measles and malnutrition -- and may be improving health services overall in targeted countries, according to a study on Rwanda published" Wednesday in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, an American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) press release reports.

4 May 2012

New global strategy to reduce measles deaths and congenital rubella syndrome

Today, the partners leading efforts to control measles announce a new global strategy aimed at reducing measles deaths and congenital rubella syndrome to zero.

2 May 2012

U.N. SG Ban commends India for working to improve public health

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday during travel to India met with Indian Minister of Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nazi Azad and "commend[ed] the country's progress on health," its "continued efforts towards achieving universal health coverage," and its "commitment to the Global Strategy on Women's and Children's Health," highlighting "its innovative programs in this area" and "the need to do more to promote the well-being of women and children," the U.N. News Centre reports.

27 Apr 2012

Ghana rolls out vaccines against pneumonia and diarrhoea

Ghana has become the first African country to introduce pneumococcal and rotavirus vaccines at the same time, simultaneously tackling the leading causes of the world’s two biggest childhood killers – pneumonia and diarrhoea.

26 Apr 2012

Bats may be a common source of many viral diseases

Where do viruses dangerous to humans come from, and how have they evolved? Scientists working with Prof. Dr. Christian Drosten, Head of the In-stitute for Virology at the Universit-tsklinikum Bonn, have made significant progress in answering this question. "We already knew from prior studies that bats and rodents play a role as carriers of paramyxoviruses," said Prof. Drosten.

25 Apr 2012

Despite progress in reducing measles deaths, international community falls short of 90% reduction target, study says

The number of deaths from measles fell about 74 percent between 2000 and 2010, from slightly more than 535,000 in 2000 to an estimated 139,200 people worldwide in 2010, "missing an internationally agreed target for a 90 percent fall mainly because of low vaccine coverage in India and Africa where the virus kills tens of thousands a year," Reuters reports.

25 Apr 2012

Cancer therapy with common cold virus

Common viruses have become the latest weapon against cancer. There is the case of the eight-year-old African boy diagnosed with Burkitt's lymphoma at a Ugandan health clinic. He was exposed to the measles virus and in the next few weeks his tumour regressed completely and he entered remission. But only relatively recently have scientists clinically examined the interaction between viruses and cancers in the growing area of oncolytic virotherapy.

24 Apr 2012

Measles deaths down by 74% worldwide over last decade: Study

According to a new study by the World Health Organization (WHO) the number of measles deaths worldwide has apparently dropped by about three-quarters over a decade. However most of these deaths were in India and Africa, where not enough children are being immunized the report said.