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Is Vaccine Policy A "House of Cards"?
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11738730&dopt=Abstract
Current overview of the pathogenesis and prophylaxis of
measles with focus on practical implications.
Hilleman MR.
Merck Institute for Vaccinology, 770 Sumneytown Pike, West Point, PA 19486, USA.
lorraine_cox@merck.com
Measles is one of the most important diseases of mankind, which is so highly
contagious and evokes such persistent immunity that the virus cannot be
sustained in a population of less than about 500,000 persons. The first of the
licensed live virus vaccines against measles was developed empirically and was
approved in 1963. It provides high level
and lasting immunity and is a paradigm for solving major medical problems
without really understanding them. In spite of means for control by
prophylactic immunization, research on measles infection continues to be part of
the effort to understand the pathogenesis of many different viruses, which may
have important similarities and differences and provide important insights.
Measles, usually, is spontaneously reversible and is a prime model for
understanding virus-induced immunodeficiency disease (AIDS) which is rarely
reversible. Much has been learned of basic immunology and vaccinology in measles
through observation of the inappropriate use of vaccines of appropriate
composition, and through inappropriate host response to measles vaccines of
inappropriate composition. This review provides a current overview of selected
highlights of measles, the virus, its immunopathogenesis, and its control by use
of live virus vaccine which may lead to elimination of the disease and
eventually to eradication of the virus.
Publication Types:
PMID: 11738730 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]