Life-long Immunity To Measles Possible

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31339, 8 April 1967, Page 5

Life-long Immunity To Measles Possible

(By HAROLD M. SMECK Jr.) . WASHINGTON.

American children

have always had measles. It has been an almost invariable accompaniment of childhood. But now the disease may be virtually ended this year, at least in the United States. “The number of cases reported in recent weeks reflects the lowest incidence since measles data first began to be compiled early in the century,” said a recent publication of the National Communicable Disease Centre in Atlanta, Georgia. This is an unprecedented period in preventive medicine, the same report said. The reason is a live virus measles vaccine, expected to give lifetime immunity, that was developed by Dr. John F. Enders and colleagues of Harvard University and licensed in 1963. This made the elimination of measles possible. Last November Dr. William H. Stewart, Surgeon General of the Public Health Service, challenged the American health professions to make that possibility a reality—this year. About 20 million doses of measles vaccine had been distributed in the United States by the end of 1966, according to the Communicable Disease Centre, a unit of the Public Health Service. Most of these doses have been given to infants and small children by private practitioners. To complete the eradication job an estimated eight to ten million more children must be immunised this year. The Public Health Service has the co-operation of many of the nation’s most important health groups in achieving this historic objective. Included are the American MediCal Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Public Health Association. The reason for this enthusiasm is that measles can be a dangerous illness, although most children come through their infections unharmed. "Measles is a serious disease with many complications,” said the American School Health Association. “In the

past measles has killed hundreds of children each year and left many others with handicapping conditiohs. Now there is no longer any reason for any child to die or suffer disability from measles.” The Surgeon General has listed four main points in the campaign to eradicate the disease. They are:

Routine immunisation of all children when they are one year old. Nearly all health departments have measles vaccine for those who cannot afford it

Immunisation of any children in kindergarten, first or second grades who are still unprotected against the disease. The development of improved reporting systems so that

new cases of measles can be found quickly and epidemics averted. Crash immunisation programmes to halt each newfound epidemic.

Ordinarily, the measles season begins in late fail or early winter. From that time until late winter the graph lines showing new measles cases throughout the nation tend to climb speedily—from a few thousand cases in November to many tens of thousands as spring approaches.

But since 1963 there has been a steady decline and the graphs have become progressively flatter. It is vaccine that has done this, public health specialists believe. Copyright, 1967, "New York Times.”