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(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Thanks to a rigorous immunization program, measles has been eliminated in the United States since 2000. But in developing nations, the highly contagious disease continues to cause widespread sickness and death. A new recommendation for measles vaccination in developing areas may save lives.
The World Health Organization recommends vaccinating infants for measles at nine months. Due to a lack of natural antibodies passed from mother to child in recent years, many infants come down with the disease before their first immunization.
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During a recent measles outbreak in Guinea-Bissau in Africa, researchers vaccinated infants at four and a half months, then again at nine months as the WHO recommends. Researchers found early vaccination offered more than 90 percent protection against measles infection and 100 percent protection against measles hospitalization.
Before the early vaccination, only 28 percent of infants had natural measles antibodies, but afterwards, researchers report 92 percent had measles antibodies at nine months of age. Rates of measles infection dropped from 3.1 percent in children immunized only once at nine months, to 0.7 percent in children immunized twice.
"If elimination of measles is planned it will be necessary in Africa to immunize as early as possible for many years, the authors write.
Authors add that the early vaccination should not substitute the vaccination normally given at nine to 15 months of age, but rather be used in conjunction to increase immunity in the population.
SOURCE: British Medical Journal, published online July 24, 2008
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