Current impact of measles in the United Kingdom

Annual measles notifications in the United Kingdom continue to exceed 100,000 despite the introduction in 1968 of routine measles vaccination for children aged one to two years. One in 5,000 children with notified cases of measles die; complications of the disease remain similar in incidence and sev...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inReviews of infectious diseases Vol. 5; no. 3; p. 427
Main Author Miller, C L
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 01.05.1983
Subjects
Adolescent
Adult
Child
Child, Preschool
Female
Humans
Infant
Male
Measles - complications
Measles - epidemiology
Measles - mortality
Measles - prevention & control
Measles Vaccine - immunology
Measles Vaccine - therapeutic use
Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis - epidemiology
United Kingdom
Vaccination
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Summary:Annual measles notifications in the United Kingdom continue to exceed 100,000 despite the introduction in 1968 of routine measles vaccination for children aged one to two years. One in 5,000 children with notified cases of measles die; complications of the disease remain similar in incidence and severity to those observed in 1963. The overall vaccine acceptance of 50% has reduced notifications of disease primarily among children aged one to four and five to nine years. In areas where vaccination acceptance is higher than the national average, there has been a reduction in notifications for all age groups. Schwarz strain vaccine, which has been in use since 1968, has been shown to give protection lasting up to 16 years. Despite the reduction in the incidence of measles and the low acceptance of vaccine, no apparent increase has been found in the number of 11-year-old children susceptible to measles, a finding demonstrated by an unchanging percentage of children with measles antibody from 1974-1981.
ISSN:0162-0886