http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health/story.jsp?story=66136

12 April 2001 

 

New strains of measles may resist vaccination

By Charles Arthur, Technology Editor

12 April 2001

 

New, more lethal strains of measles could strike unless fresh  efforts are made to increase levels of vaccination around the world,  doctors have warned.

Mutant variants of the virus are now circulating in Africa. They are  resistant to half of the antibodies that humans produce when  vaccinated, according to research by Claude Muller of the National  Health Laboratory in Luxembourg. Although the vaccine now in use  is still effective against existing strains, Dr Muller ? an adviser to  the World Health Organisation (WHO) ? warned New Scientist  magazine that “we know this family of viruses mutates rapidly”.

That could lead to super-strains of the virus that would be resistant  to the present vaccine, which contains only a single strain of the  virus.

In Britain, vaccination rates against measles have dropped  noticeably in the past five years, leading to a doubling in the  number of children without vaccination. Figures collected by the  Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS) show that the proportion  of infants being immunised against measles (as well as mumps  and rubella through the MMR vaccination) fell from 92.5 per cent to  87 per cent as a dispute grew over whether the MMR jab caused  autism.

Though the vaccination rate has levelled out at 88 per cent after a  Government publicity campaign to encourage parents to protect  their children, health chiefs are still concerned that it is heading  towards 80 per cent ? the level at which an uncontrollable epidemic could occur.

The WHO is concerned that measles, like TB, could make a fatal  return if it is not stamped out through vaccination, as smallpox  was. The increasing ease with which human viruses can spread  through international travel means that infectious diseases in one  country can quickly spread to another. The WHO, which had  wanted to eradicate measles by 2005, now suggests that the  death toll should be halved.

Measles is one of the most dangerous childhood diseases: nearly  one million people die worldwide of measles every year, and the  survivors may be left with permanent injuries, including brain  damage.  However, only 75 per cent of all the world’s children have  been vaccinated against the illness, compared with a WHO target  announced three years ago of 90 per cent.

A spokeswoman for the PHLS said: “There was a major outbreak  in Dublin last summer which did lead to several deaths.” Dr Muller  said the measles viruses now circulating would have less chance  to evolve into resistant ones if doctors acted. “We have a window of opportunity,” he told New Scientist.

Bjorn Melgaard, the WHO’s head of vaccines, said that the revised  target of halving deaths was “feasible,” adding: “But we may not be  able to eradicate measles.  And it might not even be worth it to try.”

 

ALL INFORMATION, DATA, AND MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR LEGAL ADVICE.  THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.