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Vaccine Campaign Leads to Elimination of Rubella in the Americas

posted by CoolHand on Friday May 01 2015, @12:42PM   Printer-friendly
from the maybe-bed-bugs-will-be-next dept.

AnonTechie writes in with this article:

http://arstechnica.com/science/2015/04/30/vaccine-campaign-leads-to-elimination-of-rubella-in-the-americas/

Yesterday, the World Health Organization (WHO) got together with the Pan American Health Organization to announce some promising news: there have been no new transmissions of the rubella virus in the entire Western Hemisphere since 2009. As a result, the virus has been declared eliminated in this region, joining smallpox and polio on that elite list.

Rubella, commonly called the German measles, doesn't cause severe symptoms in the vast majority of infected individuals. If a pregnant woman is infected, however, the disease can cause miscarriages or a suite of birth defects. Before the advent of an effective vaccine, the WHO says that up to 20,000 children a year in Latin America and the Caribbean were born with rubella-related birth defects; that's also the number that occurred during the last major outbreak in the US.

The widespread use of the MMR vaccine (measles, mumps, and rubella) is partly to thank for the virus' elimination. Caribbean countries also used an adult vaccination program to help cut transmission in their populations. As a result, the last infection with a local origin occurred in 2009. Since then, several cases have been reported within the hemisphere, but all have traced back to infections overseas.

 
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  • (Score: 2) by ikanreed on Friday May 01 2015, @02:24PM

    by ikanreed (3164) Subscriber Badge on Friday May 01 2015, @02:24PM (#177468) Journal

    Maybe. It's complicated. We don't get polio shots in the US even thought the disease isn't quite eliminated worldwide.

    Because where it still exists doesn't have much traffic going here. And we can immunize just those visiting the location, and screen those arriving, rather than immunizing everyone. The larger the remaining areas with the disease, the harder this becomes.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  
    Total Score:   2  

  • (Score: 5, Informative) by lrmo on Friday May 01 2015, @02:59PM

    by lrmo (838) on Friday May 01 2015, @02:59PM (#177472)

    We certainly do still get polio vaccinations in the US. Here is a link from the CDC [cdc.gov] on recommended childhood vaccinations.

    It is good that polio is almost eliminated worldwide. But until that happens we still give the immunize our population against it.

    • (Score: 4, Interesting) by ikanreed on Friday May 01 2015, @03:37PM

      by ikanreed (3164) Subscriber Badge on Friday May 01 2015, @03:37PM (#177488) Journal

      Point withdrawn in the face of evidence.

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Joe on Saturday May 02 2015, @03:03AM

      by Joe (2583) on Saturday May 02 2015, @03:03AM (#177745)

      We actually may still have to vaccinate even if there are no detectable cases.

      "Live" vaccines can revert back to a disease-causing virus and can infect others. Inactivated (non-infectious) vaccines protect people from disease (getting into the nervous system and causing flaccid paralysis), but are unable to prevent infection and spread.

      A better "live" vaccine (that can't revert) will probably be necessary to fully eradicate the virus.

      - Joe