Measles Vaccine

New research further debunks any link between the measles vaccine and autism, a finding that comes as the nation is experiencing a surge in measles cases fueled by children left unvaccinated. Years of research with the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, better known as MMR, have found that it doesn't cause autism. Still, some parents' fears persist, in part due to a 1998 British study that linked the vaccine with a subgroup of autistic children who also had serious gastrointestinal problems.

World Health Organization officials had hoped to achieve a 90% reduction in measles deaths between 2000 and 2010, but fell short of their goal, achieving just a 74% reduction, researchers said Tuesday. The number of deaths worldwide fell from 535,300 in 2000 to 139,300 in 2010, according to a report in The Lancet . That represented a significant accomplishment, but was not as great a gain as officials had hoped for. The major impediments to the planned reduction were India, which accounted for 47% of measles deaths in 2010, and WHO's African region, which accounted for 36%. There were 222 measles cases in the United States last year, most of them imported, but no deaths.

David T. Imagawa, 69, internationally recognized immunologist and virologist who helped develop the measles vaccine and did research on AIDS. A native of Isleton, Calif., Imagawa was interned in a camp for Japanese-Americans during World War II. He earned his doctorate in bacteriology at the University of Minnesota and did research at Japan National Institute. His 1989 lead article in the New England Journal of Medicine provided insight into how the human immunodeficiency virus causes AIDS.

Measles isn’t on the radar screen of most Americans. Endemic transmission has not occurred in the United States since the late 1990s and in the entire Western Hemisphere since November 2002. You'd think that many health officials, especially in this country, would just relax. Not so. The disease kills an estimated 164,000 people worldwide a year. Though that number is a far cry from the 2.6 million global measles deaths in 1980 or even the 733,000 deaths in 2000, it’s still considered much too high.

San Diego County cannot give children a second measles vaccination as recommended by a federal agency because it lacks the vaccine to give the first inoculation. More than 8,000 children might have to go without the needed first vaccination next year, despite a fivefold increase in measles cases over the past year, county health officials say. "If we haven't got the vaccine, we're obviously not going to immunize," said Donald Ramras, county health officer.

The recent measles outbreak has prompted San Diego County health officials to recommend that children receive their first measles vaccine at 12 months rather than 15 months. The move comes at a time when there have been 487 suspected or confirmed cases of the disease, with 10% of those being children from 12 to 14 months old. "We're hoping to prevent the disease at this younger age," said Dr. Donald G. Ramras, deputy director of public health.

American tourists headed for Canada this summer should make certain they have been vaccinated against measles because of an epidemic in some provinces of that country, federal health officials said Thursday. The national Centers for Disease Control said hundreds of thousands of tourists go to Canada each year, and even more are expected this year because of Expo '86 at Vancouver in British Columbia.

In the wake of six severe measles cases among children infected with the AIDS virus, federal health officials reversed their earlier stand and recommended measles vaccine for all such children. The Immunization Practices Advisory Committee of the Centers for Disease Control previously had recommended that children showing symptoms of AIDS not be vaccinated because their immune systems might not be able to tolerate the live-virus measles vaccine.

Worldwide measles deaths dropped 48% in six years as immunization efforts reached more children in sub-Saharan Africa, the United Nations said Friday. The World Health Organization and the U.N. Children's Fund said the fall in deaths to 454,000 in 2004 from 871,000 in 1999 was "an outstanding public-health success story." A safe, cheap and effective measles vaccine has been available since the 1960s, but the highly infectious disease is still a major killer of children in developing countries.

Russia has virtually no vaccines for major childhood diseases, and polluted drinking water has caused illnesses such as dysentery and gastroenteritis to soar in parts of Siberia, the federal Centers for Disease Control said Thursday. The center reported that a U.S. health team that visited six regions of Russia from Jan. 16 to Feb. 6 found critical shortages of vaccines for measles, polio, diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis.

As the summer vacation season nears, measles cases are on the rise in California, driven by unimmunized travelers infected elsewhere who are entering the state, health officials said Friday. "We see that as worrisome," Dr. Gilberto Chavez, deputy director of the California Department of Public Health, said in an interview. Those infected with measles include not only unimmunized Californians traveling abroad, but foreign visitors to the state and others who simply came in contact with infected travelers, Chavez said.

U.S. immunization rates for the most common childhood vaccines continue to remain near or above the target level of 90% coverage, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. Rates for the newest vaccines, including hepatitis A, hepatitis B and rotavirus, also continue to grow, the agency reported in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report . Less than 1% of children had not received any vaccines. "Today's report is generally very reassuring, despite reports we have seen" about parents being reluctant to immunize children because of fears of a link between vaccines and autism.

Dr. Thomas C. Peebles, a World War II bomber pilot who isolated the measles virus, setting the stage for development of the vaccine that freed the world from the deadly scourge, died July 8 at his home in Port Charlotte, Fla. He was 89. Peebles also led a team that showed the tetanus vaccine could be given every decade instead of every year, developed a way to add fluoride to children's vitamins to prevent tooth decay and founded one of the country's...

Once vaccination rates dip below a certain point, outbreaks of childhood diseases can spread quickly. Last year, Hilary Chambers, a San Diego radio host and mother of a baby girl, saw firsthand how fast measles can be passed among children. A 7-year-old boy brought back a case of the disease from Switzerland and infected his two siblings and nine other children at his public charter school and doctors' office.

Re "A dose of reality on autism," editorial, Feb. 25 The court decision that additives in the measles vaccine do not cause autism may not be the final word on the issue. As history has shown, officials tend to downplay beliefs of parents or other nonprofessionals. But parents have brought needed attention to this important issue, and the demand now should be that government and the pharmaceutical industry dedicate adequate resources to the discovery of any and all possible environmental causes for autism.

New research further debunks any link between the measles vaccine and autism, a finding that comes as the nation is experiencing a surge in measles cases fueled by children left unvaccinated. Years of research with the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, better known as MMR, have found that it doesn't cause autism. Still, some parents' fears persist, in part due to a 1998 British study that linked the vaccine with a subgroup of autistic children who also had serious gastrointestinal problems.

More than 8,000 children in San Diego County may not get measles vaccinations next year despite a fivefold increase in measles cases over the past year, county health officials say. "If we haven't got the vaccine, we're obviously not going to immunize," said Donald Ramras, county health officer. "If things don't change, my prediction is that some people won't get it." The problem is a money crunch in the state Department of Health Services.

Ventura County's measles epidemic has spread to as many as 68 people, health officials said. Currently, there are 31 confirmed cases and another 37 probable cases awaiting blood test confirmation, officials said. Anyone who believes they may have been infected should call the county Public Health Department or their physician immediately, officials said. Measles is a highly contagious viral disease that is easily spread through secretions from the nose and throat that can be airborne.

Worldwide measles deaths dropped 48% in six years as immunization efforts reached more children in sub-Saharan Africa, the United Nations said Friday. The World Health Organization and the U.N. Children's Fund said the fall in deaths to 454,000 in 2004 from 871,000 in 1999 was "an outstanding public-health success story." A safe, cheap and effective measles vaccine has been available since the 1960s, but the highly infectious disease is still a major killer of children in developing countries.

I have lived and practiced medicine in many different places in the world and witnessed epidemics of measles, polio, mumps and whooping cough. It still hurts to remember my first week of practice when I attended to the only case of diphtheria I was to ever witness. Working with all the town's pediatricians, we failed to save that child's life. Now I have been practicing pediatrics in the United States for over 30 years.