Measles, mumps, and rubella: prevention.
BACKGROUND
Measles virus causes an estimated 30 million infections and 770,000 deaths a year worldwide, with increased risks of neurological, respiratory, and bleeding complications in survivors. Mumps can cause neurological problems and hearing loss, orchitis with infertility, and pancreatitis. Rubella infection is usually mild, but can lead to fetal death or severe congenital abnormalities if contracted in early pregnancy. The incidence of all three infections has decreased significantly in countries with routine vaccination programmes targeted at these diseases, but decreased vaccination rates are associated with increased risks of infection.


METHODS
We conducted a systematic review and aimed to answer the following clinical questions: What are the effects of measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination? We searched: Medline, Embase, The Cochrane Library and other important databases up to July 2006 (Clinical Evidence reviews are updated periodically, please check our website for the most up-to-date version of this review). We included harms alerts from relevant organisations such as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).


RESULTS
We found 94 systematic reviews, RCTs, or observational studies that met our inclusion criteria. We performed a GRADE evaluation of the quality of evidence for interventions.


CONCLUSIONS
In this systematic review we present information relating to the effectiveness and safety of the following interventions: MMR vaccine, monovalent measles vaccine, monovalent mumps vaccine, and monovalent rubella vaccine.
Elliman
David
D
Islington PCT and Great Ormond Street Hospital, London, UK.
Sengupta
Nitu
N
El Bashir
Haitham
H
Bedford
Helen
H
D003638:Deafness; D006309:Hearing; D034381:Hearing Loss; D006801:Humans; D008457:Measles; D009107:Mumps; D020127:Recovery of Function; D012307:Risk Factors; D012409:Rubella; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014777:Virus Diseases