NEW YORK - The Americas has become the first region in the world to be free of measles, following a 22-year vaccination drive against the disease which continues to infect tens of thousands of people globally, the Pan American Health Organization said on Tuesday.

The milestone was confirmed after no cases of the highly contagious disease originating in the Americas were recorded in at least three years, the PAHO said.

"This is truly a historic deed," said Carissa Etienne, director of the PAHO, which serves as the World Health Organization's (WHO) regional office for the Americas.

Globally, measles remains a leading cause of death among young children in the developing world.

About 250,000 people were infected with measles last year, most in Africa and Asia, the PAHO said.

According to the WHO, the virus that can lead to deadly complications like diarrhea, dehydration, respiratory infection and encephalitis kills an estimated 314 people every day.

The last outbreak of measles that originated in the Americas occurred in Venezuela in 2002, PAHO said.

But the region was only declared free of measles this year.

Factors such as conflicts that made it difficult to access some communities slowed down the verification process, said Merceline Dahl-Regis, chair of a committee of experts responsible for verifying the elimination of measles and other diseases in the Americas.

Justin Lessler, an epidemiology expert at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, said imported cases of measles - which remains widespread in other parts of the world - could still lead to small outbreaks in the Americas.

"People still need to be vaccinated to maintain elimination," he said.

Before a separate, worldwide vaccination drive against measles began in the 1980s, the disease caused 2.6 million deaths a year worldwide - 12,000 of them in the Americas, according to PAHO.

Measles is the fifth vaccine-preventable disease to be eliminated in the Americas - after smallpox in 1971, poliomyelitis in 1994, and rubella and congenital rubella syndrome in 2015, the PAHO said.</s>Once in a while, the global health news is good. Today is one of those days.

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) announced today that measles has been eliminated in the Americas region. “This is a historic day for our region and indeed the world,” said PAHO/WHO Director Carissa F. Etienne in a statement. “It is proof of the remarkable success that can be achieved when countries work together in solidarity towards a common goal. 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.”

This is a genuinely historic achievement – this is the first region in the world to be able to do this.

Measles is one of the leading causes of death in young children, and it is highly contagious. According to the World Health Organization, before mass vaccination was initiated in 1980, measles caused nearly 2.6 million annual deaths worldwide. In the Americas, 101,800 deaths were attributable to measles between 1971 and 1979. Still, measles killed some 115,000 children worldwide last year.

Its elimination in the Americas region means that while an occasional case of measles may be registered in the region, the infection itself occurred outside the region. No one has been infected with measles in the Americas for 12 months. A major child-killer has been brought to an end.

In some ways, measles is low-hanging fruit as disease elimination goes. The measles virus has a safe, cheap and highly effective vaccine. There is no wild virus of the type we find with polio. However, vaccinating enough children to ensure population immunity is a logistical challenge even when a good vaccine is available. The vaccine must be kept cold from its time of production up until it is used, and reaching every child in a country requires extensive planning.

The region stands as a model for others. There are 47 countries in the Americas region, which includes North, Central, and South America and the Caribbean. May of the countries in the region face serious health challenges, from the malnutrition that plagues Haiti to the devastation Zika has brought to Latin America. Despite these challenges these nations have been able to prioritize the health of their children and put an end to measles. The Americas is the first region to eliminate measles; it must not be the last.

The region is a warning as well as a model. The last measles outbreaks seen in the Americas were in January 2015, in the US, Canada, and Brazil. Brazil has some excuse; the country is still grappling with serious poverty challenges. For the United States and Canada, though, it is a warning. All of our national wealth and infrastructure can’t protect us from people who refuse to have their children vaccinated. The wealthiest countries in the Americas region may well be the ones who let measles return to the region.

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comments...</s>NEW YORK - The Americas has become the first region in the world to be free of measles, following a 22-year vaccination drive against the disease which continues to infect tens of thousands of people globally, the Pan American Health Organization said on Tuesday.

The milestone was confirmed after no cases of the highly contagious disease originating in the Americas were recorded in at least three years, the PAHO said.

"This is truly a historic deed," said Carissa Etienne, director of the PAHO, which serves as the World Health Organization's (WHO) regional office for the Americas.

Globally, measles remains a leading cause of death among young children in the developing world.

About 250,000 people were infected with measles last year, most in Africa and Asia, the PAHO said.

According to the WHO, the virus that can lead to deadly complications like diarrhea, dehydration, respiratory infection and encephalitis kills an estimated 314 people every day.

The last outbreak of measles that originated in the Americas occurred in Venezuela in 2002, PAHO said.

But the region was only declared free of measles this year.

Factors such as conflicts that made it difficult to access some communities slowed down the verification process, said Merceline Dahl-Regis, chair of a committee of experts responsible for verifying the elimination of measles and other diseases in the Americas.

Justin Lessler, an epidemiology expert at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, said imported cases of measles - which remains widespread in other parts of the world - could still lead to small outbreaks in the Americas.

"People still need to be vaccinated to maintain elimination," he said.

Before a separate, worldwide vaccination drive against measles began in the 1980s, the disease caused 2.6 million deaths a year worldwide - 12,000 of them in the Americas, according to PAHO.

Measles is the fifth vaccine-preventable disease to be eliminated in the Americas - after smallpox in 1971, poliomyelitis in 1994, and rubella and congenital rubella syndrome in 2015, the PAHO said.</s>NEW YORK - The Americas has become the first region in the world to be free of measles, following a 22-year vaccination drive against the disease which continues to infect tens of thousands of people globally, the Pan American Health Organization said on Tuesday.

The milestone was confirmed after no cases of the highly contagious disease originating in the Americas were recorded in at least three years, the PAHO said.

"This is truly a historic deed," said Carissa Etienne, director of the PAHO, which serves as the World Health Organization's (WHO) regional office for the Americas.

Globally, measles remains a leading cause of death among young children in the developing world.

About 250,000 people were infected with measles last year, most in Africa and Asia, the PAHO said.

According to the WHO, the virus that can lead to deadly complications like diarrhea, dehydration, respiratory infection and encephalitis kills an estimated 314 people every day.

The last outbreak of measles that originated in the Americas occurred in Venezuela in 2002, PAHO said.

But the region was only declared free of measles this year.

Factors such as conflicts that made it difficult to access some communities slowed down the verification process, said Merceline Dahl-Regis, chair of a committee of experts responsible for verifying the elimination of measles and other diseases in the Americas.

Justin Lessler, an epidemiology expert at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, said imported cases of measles - which remains widespread in other parts of the world - could still lead to small outbreaks in the Americas.

"People still need to be vaccinated to maintain elimination," he said.

Before a separate, worldwide vaccination drive against measles began in the 1980s, the disease caused 2.6 million deaths a year worldwide - 12,000 of them in the Americas, according to PAHO.

Measles is the fifth vaccine-preventable disease to be eliminated in the Americas - after smallpox in 1971, poliomyelitis in 1994, and rubella and congenital rubella syndrome in 2015, the PAHO said.</s>Global health authorities on Tuesday declared the Americas free of endemic measles, the first region to be so certified.

The hemisphere’s last case of endemic measles — meaning one that did not spring from an imported strain — was in 2002.

Normally, it takes three years without cases to declare a disease eradicated from a region, but in this instance it took 14 years.

Experts at the Pan American Health Organization in Washington, D.C., where the announcement was made, cited several reasons for the delay: poor communication between local and national health departments in some countries, large numbers of unvaccinated mobile migrants in others, and parts of other countries that were unreachable because of fighting.</s>"The Americas region has shown that with strong national immunization programs... dedicated financing and strong political commitment and partner support, measles can be stopped," said World Health Organization director Margaret Chan (AFP Photo/Joe Raedle)

Miami (AFP) - Measles has been eradicated from the Americas after decades of vaccination efforts, the world's first 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 Organization (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 immunization programs... 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 Organization (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 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

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.

In recent years, measles outbreaks have risen in some parts of the United States and Europe where parents have refused to vaccinate their children.

When a person is infected outside the area and returns to an area with lower vaccination rates, more children are at risk of getting sick and spreading the disease.

"Sometimes people that are unvaccinated are in groups, so you can see a cluster of cases," said the CDC's Susan Reef, noting that just such an outbreak in California last year does not qualify as "endemic transmission."

Experts said the success of the Americas should not lead people to become complacent about vaccine efforts, which must be maintained at high levels to keep the virus at bay.

"It is my hope that other regions of the world are encouraged by the success of the Americas," said Chan.

"And that the lessons learned here serve them as they move forward toward their own elimination goals."</s>The milestone was confirmed after no cases of the highly contagious disease originating in the Americas were recorded in at least three years, the PAHO said.

"This is truly a historic deed," said Carissa Etienne, director of the PAHO, which serves as the World Health Organization's (WHO) regional office for the Americas.

Globally, measles remains a leading cause of death among young children in the developing world.

About 250,000 people were infected with measles last year, most in Africa and Asia, the PAHO said.

According to the WHO, the virus that can lead to deadly complications like diarrhea, dehydration, respiratory infection and encephalitis kills an estimated 314 people every day.

The last outbreak of measles that originated in the Americas occurred in Venezuela in 2002, PAHO said.

But the region was only declared free of measles this year.

Factors such as conflicts that made it difficult to access some communities slowed down the verification process, said Merceline Dahl-Regis, chair of a committee of experts responsible for verifying the elimination of measles and other diseases in the Americas.

Justin Lessler, an epidemiology expert at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, said imported cases of measles - which remains widespread in other parts of the world - could still lead to small outbreaks in the Americas.

"People still need to be vaccinated to maintain elimination," he said.

Before a separate, worldwide vaccination drive against measles began in the 1980s, the disease caused 2.6 million deaths a year worldwide - 12,000 of them in the Americas, according to PAHO.

Measles is the fifth vaccine-preventable disease to be eliminated in the Americas - after smallpox in 1971, poliomyelitis in 1994, and rubella and congenital rubella syndrome in 2015, the PAHO said. (Reporting by Sebastien Malo, Editing by Katie Nguyen.; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org)</s>The Region of the Americas is the first in the world to have eliminated measles, a viral disease that can cause severe health problems, including pneumonia, blindness, brain swelling and even death. This achievement culminates a 22-year effort involving mass vaccination against measles, mumps and rubella throughout the Americas.

Measles is the fifth vaccine-preventable disease to be eliminated from the Americas, after the regional eradication of smallpox in 1971, poliomyelitis in 1994, and rubella and congenital rubella syndrome in 2015.

“This is a historic day for our region and indeed the world,” said PAHO/WHO Director Carissa F. Etienne. “It is proof of the remarkable success that can be achieved when countries work together in solidarity towards a common goal. 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.”

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Before mass vaccination was initiated in 1980, measles caused nearly 2.6 million annual deaths worldwide. In the Americas, 101,800 deaths were attributable to measles between 1971 and 1979. A cost-effectiveness study on measles elimination in Latin America and the Caribbean has estimated that with vaccination, 3.2 million measles cases will have been prevented in the Region and 16,000 deaths between 2000 and 2020.

Measles is one of the most contagious diseases and affects primarily children. It is transmitted by airborne droplets or via direct contact with secretions from the nose, mouth, and throat of infected individuals. Symptoms include high fever, generalized rash all over the body, stuffy nose, and reddened eyes. It can cause serious complications including blindness, encephalitis, severe diarrhea, ear infections and pneumonia, particularly in children with nutritional problems and in immunocompromised patients.

As a result of global measles elimination efforts, only 244,704 measles cases were reported worldwide in 2015, representing a significant decline from earlier years. However, more than a half of these reported cases were notified in Africa and Asia.

“I would like to emphasize that our work on this front is not yet done,” warned Etienne. “We can not become complacent with this achievement but must rather protect it carefully. Measles still circulates widely in other parts of the world, and so we must be prepared to respond to imported cases. It is critical that we continue to maintain high vaccination coverage rates, and it is crucial that any suspected measles cases be immediately reported to the authorities for rapid follow-up.”

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In the 1990s, a decline in cases was recorded, but the most notable decrease was observed after the Region had launched its initiative to eliminate measles in 1994. That year, the countries of the Americas established the goal to eliminate indigenous transmission of measles by the year 2000, through the implementation of surveillance and vaccination strategies recommended by PAHO/WHO.

PAHO/WHO’s elimination strategy had recommended three lines of action for countries: 1) conduct a one-time national campaign to bring children between 1 and 14 years of age up to date with measles vaccination; 2) strengthen routine vaccination to reach a minimum of 95% of children every year; and 3) undertake massive follow-up campaigns every four years, to reach a minimum of 95% of children aged 1 to 4 with a second dose of vaccine.

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Following this strategy, the last indigenous measles outbreak was registered in Venezuela in 2002. However, some countries in the Region still notified imported cases. Between 2003 and 2014, 5,077 imported measles cases were registered in the Americas.

After declaring the elimination of rubella and congenital rubella syndrome in 2015, the International Expert Committee waited for evidence of the interruption of a measles outbreak in Brazil, which had begun in 2013 and lasted for more than a year. After a year of targeted actions and enhanced surveillance, the last case of measles in Brazil was registered in July 2015.

This Story Isn’t Contagious, But You Can Still Spread It To Your Friends: Click To Share – Photo by Rod Waddington, CC</s>The World Health Organization has declared the Americas – North, South, Central – the first region of the world to be free of endemic measles, although it has been confirmed eliminated in individual countries.

Endemic measles, meaning not brought in from other parts of the world, was last recorded in the region in 2002. The illness can bring on blindness, pneumonia and in the worst cases, death.

According to the Pan American Health Organization, it took 14 years for the announcement to become final because of poor communication among the health agencies of the countries involved. Armed conflict and unvaccinated moving migrant populations also added to the difficulty of the process.

The 2014 measles outbreak in Disneyland was traced to a source outside of the United States, as scientists were able to use technology to track the sources, UPI reports.

Despite the increasing number of parents who refuse to get their children vaccinated, health experts credit strict immunization policies as the main reason the declaration could be made.

Dr. Merceline Dahl-Regis, chair of the International Expert Committee for Elimination in the Americas, cites her hometown, The Bahamas, as an example. “You have 400,000 people [living there] and six million people who come and visit the country – and we don’t have measles because of high immunization coverage.” She says the answer is simple. No matter race, gender or socio-economic status, she says,

The WHO agrees, saying that sustained vaccination campaigns were responsible for killing the disease. WHO director-general Dr. Margaret Chan said that the organization hopes more regions will follow soon follow suit. She says it took considerable funding and “strong political commitment” to keep pushing the vaccination programs, especially in remote areas and dangerous, conflict-ridden areas, NBC News reports.

The measles vaccine came out in the 1960s. Before it became widely available, measles killed close to 2.6 million people yearly, WHO states. One of the most contagious diseases to affect children, measles is still widely circulating in other parts of the world.

WHO officials say it is important to maintain vaccination coverage and that this achievement does not mean health care professionals – and the public – should be complacent, but keep working to battle the disease.
The WHO announces that measles has been eliminated throughout the Americas, the first time this virus has been eradicated in an entire region. The hemisphere’s last endemic case of measles — one which did not spring from an imported strain — was in 2002.