No specific treatment exist for measles and because of the extreme infectiousness of the disease, measures to control outbreaks in highly susceptible communities almost invariably fail. Preventative vaccination is the only rational approach to measles control.
The live, attenuated measles vaccines that are now internationally available have an acceptable safety profile are effective and relatively inexpensive and may be used interchangeably in immunization programmes. Where measles vaccine has been combined with rubella vaccine (MR) or mumps and rubella vaccine (MMR) the protective immune response to the individual components remains unchanged. The use of such combined vaccines is logically and pro-grammatically sound and is recommended is areas where the disease burden of mumps and rubella is high when the vaccine coverage rates can be sustained.
Immunization against measles is recommended for all susceptible children and adults for whom measles vaccination is not contraindicated. The vaccine should be used to prevent outbreaks rather than to try and control outbreaks. Large-scale vaccination to control ongoing outbreaks is of limited value.
No comments:
Post a Comment