Is global measles eradication feasible?

Abstract

Measles is one of most infectious diseases. Before the introduction of the measles vaccine, practically all children in the long run contracted measles. By the end of the 1980s most countries of the world had incorporated measles vaccine into their routine vaccination programs. Globally, some 800,000 deaths due to measles still occur every year, half of them in Africa. Eradication of measles would play an important role in improving child survival. The goal to eradicate measles from the Americas was set by the Pan American Sanitary Conference in 1994. Progress to date has been remarkable. Measles is no longer an endemic disease in the Americas and interruption of transmission has been documented in most countries. As of August 2005, 3 years have elapsed since the detection of the last indigenous case in Venezuela in September 2002. This experience shows that interruption of measles transmission can be achieved and sustained over a long period of time and that global eradication is feasible if appropriate strategy is implemented. Even in a new paradigm in which eradication is not followed by the discontinuation of vaccination, eradication of measles will be a good investment to avoid expensive epidemics and save the almost one million children that die every year to infection with the measles virus. It is not a dream to think that we will se a world free of measles by the year 2015.