Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:dateCreated
1999-5-6
pubmed:abstractText
In 1994, the Ministers of Health from the Region of the Americas targeted measles for eradication from the Western Hemisphere by the year 2000. To achieve this goal, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) developed an enhanced measles eradication strategy. First, a one-time-only "catch-up" measles vaccination campaign is conducted among children aged 9 months to 14 years. Efforts are then made to vaccinate through routine health services ("keep-up") at least 95% of each newborn cohort at 12 months of age. Finally, to assure high population immunity among preschool-aged children, indiscriminate "follow-up" measles vaccination campaigns are conducted approximately every 4 years. These vaccination activities are accompanied by improvements in measles surveillance, including the laboratory testing of suspected measles cases. The implementation of the PAHO strategy has resulted in a marked reduction in measles incidence in all countries of the Americas. Indeed, in 1996 the all-time regional record low of 2109 measles cases was reported. There was a relative resurgence of measles in 1997 with over 20,000 cases, due to a large measles outbreak among infants, preschool-aged children and young adults in São Paulo, Brazil. Contributing factors for this outbreak included: low routine infant vaccination coverage, failure to conduct a "follow-up" campaign, presence of susceptible young adults, and the importation of measles virus, apparently from Europe. PAHO's strategy has been effective in interrupting measles virus circulation. This experience demonstrates that global measles eradication is an achievable goal using currently available measles vaccines.
pubmed:commentsCorrections
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:issn
0042-9686
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
76 Suppl 2
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
47-52
pubmed:dateRevised
2009-11-18
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
1998
pubmed:articleTitle
Measles eradication: experience in the Americas.
pubmed:affiliation
Pan American Health Organization, Washington, DC, USA.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article