OBJECTIVE: To describe measles vaccination patterns in a cohort of Swiss children aged up to 3 years insured with a single health insurer. METHODS: A dynamic cohort study evaluating measles immunizations patterns in children born between 2006 and 2008 was conducted. Timeto-event analysis was used to describe timing of measles immunization. Effective vaccine coverage was calculated by using an a...

One usually thinks of measles as a minor childhood illness through which we all must pass and as a nuisance more than a danger. But this was not always the case. In colonial America, two hundred years ago, measles was dreaded like the plague, and today in remote parts of the world, on isolated islands and in the Arctic, it can be a devastating disease. Even here and now in the United States it ...

To describe the epidemiology of measles in Oman and the implications for a vaccination programme, we conducted a retrospective record-based study from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2003 using data from the national epidemiological surveillance system. All cases notified as suspected measles during the study period were included. Of the 185 notified cases, 19.4% were confirmed measles positive. ...

Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis is a slowly progressive neurodegenerative disorder occurring in childhood and adolescence and is characterised by dementia, ataxia, myoclonias and other neurological focal signs, with an invariably fatal outcome. The author reviews the subject, focussing on epidemiology, clinical features, measles virus behaviour, host immune reactions, measles prophylaxis an...

Introduction Measles, mumps, and rubella incidence decreased drastically following vaccination programs’ implementation. However, measles mumps’ resurgence was recently reported, outbreaks still occur, challenges remain to control these diseases.Areas covered This qualitative narrative review provides an objective appraisal of the literature regarding current in controlling measles, infections,...

INTRODUCTION In view of the goal of measles elimination, it is of great importance to assess the circulation of wild-type measles virus (MV). Genetic analysis is indispensable to understand the epidemiology of measles. A large measles outbreak occurred in Italy in 2008, with over 4000 cases reported to the enhanced measles surveillance system introduced in 2007, 37% of which were laboratory con...

Genotyping is an important component of measles surveillance. In this study, we report the genotypes of 30 measles viruses from cases in Canada; 6 of these were collected between 1979 and 1996 and 24 were collected from 1997 through 2002. Many measles virus genotypes were found (C1, C2, D3, D4, D5, D6, D7, D8, E, and H1). These data indicate that the predominant measles virus genotypes detected...

The nucleotide sequences of either the hemagglutinin or nucleoprotein genes from wild type measles viruses isolated in the United States between 1989 and 1992 differed by < 0.5%. This suggests that the majority of viruses associated with resurgence of measles in the United States belonged to a single indigenous genotype. In contrast, wild type viruses isolated from sporadic outbreaks of measles...

Editorial Research on measles virology, epidemiology, vaccine and vaccination strategies has expanded in recent years. Measles mortality reduction has already contributed significantly to progress towards the achievement of the 4 Millennium Development Goal to reduce under 5 mortality by two thirds by 2015 compared with 1990 levels [1]. Interest in measles has increased with the increasing numb...