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.

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

GAVI to purchase $1 billion in childhood vaccines for distribution in 37 of the poorest nations

The Geneva-based GAVI Alliance, a fund backed by governments, the World Bank, the WHO and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said in an e-mailed statement on Tuesday that it will purchase more than $1 billion in vaccines against rotavirus, pneumococcal and other diseases through deals made with GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer Inc. and Merck & Co. to immunize children in 37 of the poorest nations, Bloomberg reports.

28 Sep 2011

Global health blunders can lend useful lessons

New York Times reporter Lawrence Altman recounts his experience in the mid-1960s with a measles immunization campaign in Upper Volta during his time with the Epidemic Intelligence Service of the CDC in a "Doctor's World" perspective piece in the newspaper. Altman says that although the effort to expand the immunization campaign from a small field trial to a regional program "failed miserably," the "lessons learned from these blunders led to a new program that wiped out smallpox, still the only human disease to have been eradicated from the planet."

28 Sep 2011

Study identifies genetic mutations that affect immune response to measles vaccination

Researchers at Mayo Clinic are hacking the genetic code that controls the human response to disease vaccination, and they are using this new cipher to answer many of the deep-seated questions that plague vaccinology, including why patients respond so differently to identical vaccines and how to minimize the side effects to vaccination.

23 Sep 2011

Twenty aid agencies issue open letter urging international community to change approach in Somalia

Twenty aid agencies on Wednesday issued an open letter "urging the international community to change its approach to Somalia 'and enhance diplomatic engagement with the parties to the conflict, to ensure the unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid,'" particularly before the rainy season brings the threat of disease, IRIN reports.

23 Sep 2011

New UTHealth toll-free helpline for pregnant women to avoid dangerous medications

A new toll-free helpline developed to help pregnant women avoid medications and other substances that can cause birth defects has been launched by The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) for the Texas Department of State Health Services.

20 Sep 2011

New York Times examines international response to Somali famine

"Twenty years after the central government collapsed," Somalia is facing drought, food insecurity and conflict larger in scale than when famine conditions hit the nation in the 1990s, "[a]nd given the world's limited interest in a major intervention, that is not likely to change anytime soon," the New York Times reports in a news analysis on the situation.

17 Sep 2011

Supplement in USA Today highlights global NTD eradication efforts

This supplement (.pdf) by Mediaplanet, distributed in the September 15 issue of USA Today in select cities nationwide, examines the latest programs dedicated to eradicating neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) worldwide.

17 Sep 2011

Measles News and Research

Further Reading

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

The unvaccinated population contributing to the measles outbreak

MSF suspends measles vaccination campaign in Mogadishu area because of violence

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

Young docs not so keen on immunizations: Survey

Molecular switch activates anti-viral innate immune response

WHO reports several large measles outbreaks in Europe, Africa

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

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

Parents choosing alternative vaccine schedules for their kids: Survey

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

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

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

GAVI to purchase $1 billion in childhood vaccines for distribution in 37 of the poorest nations

Global health blunders can lend useful lessons

Study identifies genetic mutations that affect immune response to measles vaccination

Twenty aid agencies issue open letter urging international community to change approach in Somalia

New UTHealth toll-free helpline for pregnant women to avoid dangerous medications

New York Times examines international response to Somali famine

Supplement in USA Today highlights global NTD eradication efforts

Achieving and maintaining ISO/IEC 27001 and BS 10012 certifications

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

Examining how pain could play a direct protective role in the gut

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