WHO declares Americas world’s first measles-free region
MIAMI: Measles has been eradicated from the Americas after decades of vaccination efforts, the world’s fi rst region to rid itself of the highly contagious disease, global health authorities said Tuesday.
Measles remains a top killer of children worldwide, and took nearly 115,000 lives in 2014 — or about 13 deaths every hour — according to the World Health Organisation ( WHO).
Before vaccination became widespread around the globe, measles killed about 2.6 million people per year.
“Endemic transmission of measles has been eliminated from the region,” said WHO director Margaret Chan.
“The Americas region has shown that with strong national immunisation programmes... dedicated financing and strong political commitment and partner support, measles can be stopped,” she added, describing it as ‘an outstanding achievement’.
Measles is now the fifth vaccine-preventable disease to be eliminated in the Americas, after smallpox, polio, rubella and congenital rubella syndrome, according to the Pan American Health Organisation ( PAHO).
The end of endemic transmission means the virus is no longer commonly spread locally, although imported cases may still lead to isolated outbreaks.
The region of the Americas reported its last endemic case in 2002.
“However, since measles continues to circulate worldwide, some countries continued to report imported cases,” PAHO said in a statement.
Over the past year, from August 2015 to August 2016, all countries in the Americas have showed documentation that endemic measles has been wiped out.
“This is a historic day for our region and indeed the world,” said PAHO director Carissa Etienne.
“It is the result of a commitment made more than two decades ago, in 1994, when the countries of the Americas pledged to end measles circulation by the turn of the 21st century.”
Measles is a highly contagious virus that lives in the nose and throat of an infected person, and can linger in the air for hours, according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Symptoms include a reddish rash, white bumps inside the cheeks, fever, runny nose, and cough.
Severe complications can occur, leading to miscarriage in pregnant women as well as the risk of death by pneumonia or brain swelling.
A vaccine became widely available in 1963, but the virus has proven difficult to eradicate. — AFP