Measles Epidemiology

Abstract

Measles remains a leading cause of children deaths despite the fact that it is a vaccine-

preventable disease. Cases of child mortality as a result of contracting measles are most common

in sub-Saharan Africa where death in the year 2004 reached 454, 000 other regions report much

lower cases. Before the introduction of the vaccine, measles caused the deaths of millions of

children. Since the vaccine was introduced, the death tolls have significantly reduced. The failure

to maintain vaccine coverage to every newborn child is the main reason for concerns as it affects

the reduction of measles cases. Of late there have been reported a case of a measles outbreak in

USA, Europe, and Sub-Saharan Africa this is a clear proof of how easy to is for measles virus to

re-enter the community if the appropriate measures of vaccination are not undertaken. Major

challenges facing measles control include myths that it causes autism, logistical, lack of political

will and financial support. To ensure that future generation children are not eliminated by

measles these challenges ought to be addressed.

Introduction

Measles has been one of the leading causes of death in children around the world (In

Kaslow, et al., 2014). In the year, 2010 report from WHO indicated that majority of children

deaths were as a result of measles. According to a CDC report released recently, there were 539

reported cases of measles in the United States as of June 2014. The World Health Organization

reported 158,000 measles caused death. These deaths are from both developed and developing

countries. Even though the numbers of death from developed countries is small, there are still

cases of measles caused death. The discovery of measles vaccines in 1963 brought about fresh