[Source: Eurosurveillance, full text: (LINK). Extract, edited.]
Eurosurveillance, Volume 16, Issue 28, 14 July 2011
Editorials
Stepping up European measles surveillance
Eurosurveillance editorial team ()<SUP>1</SUP>
Citation style for this article: Eurosurveillance editorial team. Stepping up European measles surveillance. Euro Surveill. 2011;16(28):pii=19917. Available online: http://www.eurosurveillance.org/View...rticleId=19917
Date of submission: <HR>
For many years Eurosurveillance has made it a point to publish articles on measles outbreaks and measles prevention and control in Europe. The purpose has always been to increase awareness about this dangerous and potentially fatal infectious disease and highlight opportunities for preventive measures. Measles transmission has been firmly re-established in some European Union (EU) Member States [1]. It is astonishing to see that the EU has become an exporter of measles to the rest of the world, threatening to undermine years of efforts to eliminate endemic transmission of the measles virus. Visitors to Europe are now advised to immunise their infants as early as from six months of age [2,3] in order to protect them from a disease that can result in complications and lead to severe sequelae such as brain damage and death. All this happens despite the fact that measles can be prevented through vaccination with two doses of a measles-containing vaccine, optimally the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine, and that measles can be not only eliminated (less than one notified confirmed endemic case per million population) but also eradicated. (?)
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Eurosurveillance, Volume 16, Issue 28, 14 July 2011
Editorials
Stepping up European measles surveillance
Eurosurveillance editorial team ()<SUP>1</SUP>
- European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), Stockholm, Sweden
Citation style for this article: Eurosurveillance editorial team. Stepping up European measles surveillance. Euro Surveill. 2011;16(28):pii=19917. Available online: http://www.eurosurveillance.org/View...rticleId=19917
Date of submission: <HR>
For many years Eurosurveillance has made it a point to publish articles on measles outbreaks and measles prevention and control in Europe. The purpose has always been to increase awareness about this dangerous and potentially fatal infectious disease and highlight opportunities for preventive measures. Measles transmission has been firmly re-established in some European Union (EU) Member States [1]. It is astonishing to see that the EU has become an exporter of measles to the rest of the world, threatening to undermine years of efforts to eliminate endemic transmission of the measles virus. Visitors to Europe are now advised to immunise their infants as early as from six months of age [2,3] in order to protect them from a disease that can result in complications and lead to severe sequelae such as brain damage and death. All this happens despite the fact that measles can be prevented through vaccination with two doses of a measles-containing vaccine, optimally the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine, and that measles can be not only eliminated (less than one notified confirmed endemic case per million population) but also eradicated. (?)