Elimination of measles in the Americas.
Of the 5551 confirmed measles cases reported in 1995 in the Americas, 2301 (41%) occurred in Canada. In this issue (see pages 1407 to 1413) Drs. Penny A. Sutcliffe and Elizabeth Rea describe a measles outbreak that occurred during that year in a highly vaccinated secondary school population in Toronto. Their findings support the use of a two-dose measles vaccination strategy. In this editorial the author explains how a two-dose strategy lowers the incidence of primary and secondary vaccine failures and thus reduces the number of susceptible people to below the outbreak threshold. Two-dose programs in Finland, Sweden and the United States have dramatically reduced the incidence rates of measles in those countries, and it is expected that the implementation of two-dose programs and "catch-up" campaigns in Canada and the remaining countries of the Americas will eliminate measles from the Western Hemisphere by the year 2000.
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D002648:Child; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D007115:Immunization Schedule; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D008457:Measles / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008458:Measles Vaccine / Q000008:administration & dosage; D009656:North America / Q000453:epidemiology; D000091402:Prohibitins; D012307:Risk Factors; D013020:South America / Q000453:epidemiology
D008458:Measles Vaccine; C000717331:PHB2 protein, human; D000091402:Prohibitins