Measles epidemic

In recent years several research papers have attributed an increase in autism to the introduction of the triple vaccine. This has led to a decreased public confidence in the vaccine. Detailed examination of the literature, and also the results of several clinical studies, have now indicated that there is no association between use of the triple vaccine and autism. This is backed up by over 20 years of successful deployment of the vaccine outside of the UK. Currently much effort is being made to restore confidence in the vaccine in order to avoid the lack of compliance leading to the occurrence of measles epidemics. 

B.T. Grenfell, O.N. Bjoernstad, and J. Kappey. Travelling waves and spatial hierarchies in measles epidemics. Nature, 414 716-723, 2001. 

REng (2004) The challenge of complex IT projects. Royal Academy of Engineering, London Smith R (2009) Measles epidemic feared after unprecedented rise in cases. http //www. telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/4208552/Measles-epidemic-feared-after-unprecedented-rise-in-cases.html. Accessed 2 October 2009... 

During the early 1900s, vaccines against major human epidemic diseases such as pertussis, diphtheria, tetanus, and tuberculosis were developed. Vaccines for many animal diseases were also available. In the early 1950s, the development of cell culture techniques byj. E. Enders at Harvard was followed by another series of major advances in vaccine development. Vaccines against poHo, mumps, measles, and mbeUa were Hcensed during the 1960s. 

Propagated outbreaks of infection relate to the direct transmission of an infective agent from a diseased individual to a healthy, susceptible one. Mechanisms of such transmission were described in Chapter 4 and include inhalation of infective aerosols (measles, mumps, diphtheria), direct physical contact (syphilis, herpes virus) and, where sanitation standards are poor, through the introduction of infected faecal material into drinking water (cholera, typhoid). The ease oftransmission, and hence the rate of onset of an epidemic (Fig. 16.3) relates not only to the susceptibility status, and general state of health of the individuals but also to the virulence properties of the organism, the route oftransmission, the duration of the infective period associated with the disease. 

Measles is a severe, highly contagious, acute infection that frequently occurs in epidemic form. After multiplication within the respiratory tract the virus is transported throughout the body, particularly to the skin where a characteristic maculopapular rash develops. Complications ofthe disease can occur, particularly in malnourished children, the most serious being measles encephalitis which can cause permanent neurological injury and death. 

Suggested Alternatives for Differential Diagnosis Dengue, measles, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, rubella, tick bite fever, epidemic typhus, Q fever, typhoid, malaria, trypanosomiasis, hepatitis, infectious mononucleosis, herpes, and influenza. 

The European bubonic plague of 1347 killed one-third of the population of Europe. It is the largest single plague ever recorded. The disappearance of the Aztec civilization was spurred by smallpox and measles introduced by Hernando Cortes and his band of Spanish invaders. The same diseases also decimated Native Americans in what is now the United States. Much more recently, the influenza epidemic of 1918 killed an estimated 40 million people worldwide. Malaria continues to be a major problem for people and their countries today in areas in which it is endemic. AIDS, tuberculosis, influenza, hepatitis, pneumonia, and a lengthy list of parasitic infections continue as important constraints on the welfare of people throughout the world. 

Three cases within a week in the same neighborhood means that the disease is spreading. The doctor fears an epidemic is under way. She immediately calls city health officials and tells them the problem. The health commissioner faxes a request to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta for ten thousand doses of measles vaccine. The plan is to initiate a crash program of vaccinations in the immediate neighborhood so that spread of the disease will be damped. Infected children will be quarantined after the outbreak is contained, an educational program will be initiated to alert parents to the abiding... 

The strategy works. A few more children contract the measles, but no more die. The epidemic is contained, and city officials move on to the educational campaign. 

Measles should be suspected in areas where it is endemic and childhood immunization rates are low signs of measles include fever, cough, mouth sores, and rash (Greenough, 2002). Children under 5 years of age who pass rice water stools with or without vomiting should raise the suspicion of cholera in epidemic areas (Greenough, 2002). Shigella is suspected in children with painful bloody stools and fever (Greenough, 2002). 

The recurrence of well-characterized epidemic-prone diseases such as cholera, dengue, influenza, measles, meningitis, shigellosis, and yellow fever... 

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