(MENAFN- AFP) Declared "eliminated" in the Americas on Tuesday, measles still kills tens of thousands of children in the world every year, despite the availability of safe, affordable and effective vaccines.
Things to know about measles:
WHAT IS IT
Known for its characteristic reddish rash, measles is a highly contagious disease caused by a virus spread through physical contact or coughing and sneezing.
It can weaken the immune system and render children vulnerable to complications from diarrhoea, pneumonia and malnutrition. It can lead to blindness, deafness and brain damage.
In populations with high levels of malnutrition and poor healthcare, up to one in 10 measles cases results in death.
Being infected or innoculated confers protection against the virus for the rest of one's life.
There is no specific antiviral treatment, but symptoms can be alleviated through good nutrition and lots of fluids, and the treatment of associated eye and ear infections.
NUMBERS
About 115,000 people died of measles in 2014 -- an average of about 13 every hour. Most were children younger than five, a group among which measles remains a top killer.
In 1980, before widespread vaccination, measles claimed an estimated 2.6 million lives every year -- dropping to 547,000 in 2000.
VACCINES
Measles vaccination caused fatalities from the disease to fall by nearly 80 percent between 2000 and 2014.
In 2014, about 85 percent of children received a single vaccination by their first birthday. Two doses are recommended to ensure immunity and prevent outbreaks.
Vaccination is estimated to have prevented more than 17 million deaths since 2000. Even so, millions of children go unvaccinated.
In poor countries, many people simply do not have access to the $1 vaccine (90 euro cents).
And in some rich nations, including the United States and in Europe, there is the constant risk of new outbreaks as some parents refuse let their children have the shot.
They cite fears that a triple vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella is responsible for causing autism -- a theory traceable to a 1998 British study in The Lancet that has been debunked and officially retracted.
Last year, a measles outbreak began at a Disney theme park in California, sickening about 120 people, and the United States reported its first measles death in 123 years.
ERADICATED OR ELIMINATED
Public health experts use different terms for describing the status of a disease that has been rolled back.
Elimination means stopping the disease from spreading in a given geographical area. The Americas is the world's first region to achieve this against measles.
Eradication means wiping out the disease permanently and globally. The only example of this in human history is smallpox, which was officially declared eradicated by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1980 after a worldwide campaign of vaccination.
SOURCES: World Health Organization (WHO), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
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