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Measles, mumps and rubella: prevention

How common are measles, mumps and rubella?

These are common childhood illnesses all over the world. But measles, mumps and rubella are now rare in the United States, because children are usually vaccinated against these diseases. More people catch these diseases in places where fewer people have been vaccinated.

Measles

About 30 million people in the world catch measles each year.

Source:
UNICEF.
Reducing measles mortality.
Available at http://www.unicef.org/immunization/index_measles.html (accessed on 18 August 2008).

¹ But only a few people get measles in countries where children are routinely

vaccination
A vaccination is an injection a doctor can give you to protect you from getting an infectious illness (an illness that spreads between people).

vaccinated.

In the United States, more than 9 in 10 children used to get measles by the time they were 15 years old. But measles almost disappeared once children started to be vaccinated against the disease in 1963.
In countries where most people are vaccinated against measles, only 10 or fewer people in every 100,000 get measles.

Source:
Peltola H, Davidkin I, Valle M, et al.
No measles in Finland.
Lancet. 1997; 350: 1364-1365.

²

Source:
de Quadros CA, Olive J, Hersh BS, et al.
Measles elimination in the Americas: evolving strategies.
Journal of the American Medical Association. 1996; 275: 224-229.

³

Source:
Pan American Health Organization.
Expanded program on immunization: surveillance in the Americas.
Measles Weekly Bulletin. 1995; 1. Also available at http://www.paho.org/english/ad/fch/im/MBul_1995.pdf (accessed on 18 August 2008).

⁴

Mumps

Most people used to get mumps as children, before

vaccination
A vaccination is an injection a doctor can give you to protect you from getting an infectious illness (an illness that spreads between people).

vaccination against the disease started. But now there is no mumps at all in some countries because of vaccination.

In England, for example, almost 9 in 10 people had mumps by age 10 before vaccines were given.

Source:
Morgan-Capner P, Wright J, Miller CL, et al.
Surveillance of antibody to measles, mumps, and rubella by age.
BMJ. 1988; 297: 770-772.

⁵ After the introduction of the combined measles, mumps, rubella vaccine (the MMR vaccine), mumps became much rarer.
In some countries, such as Finland, nobody gets mumps any more because people have been vaccinated against it.

Source:
Peltola H, Heinonen P, Valle M, et al.
The elimination of indigenous measles, mumps and rubella from Finland by a 12-year, two-dose vaccination program.
New England Journal of Medicine. 1994; 331: 1397-1402.

⁶

People who get mumps now in the United States are usually older. That's because they are less likely to have been vaccinated against the illness.

Rubella (German measles)

Before vaccinations began, 8 in 10 people were infected with rubella during childhood.

Source:
Cockburn WC.
World aspects of the epidemiology of rubella.
American Journal of Diseases of Children. 1969; 118: 112-122.

⁷ Most people got rubella when they were 5 to 10 years old.

Source:
Fry J, Dillane JB, Fry L.
Rubella, 1962.
BMJ. 1962; 2: 833-834.

⁸ Now rubella is rare in countries where children have the MMR vaccine.

The number of cases of rubella has fallen to the lowest ever in the United States. Only nine people had the disease in 2004.

Source:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Elimination of rubella and congenital rubella syndrome United States, 1969-2004.
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 2005; 54: 279-282.

⁹
More than 100,000 people had rubella in Romania in 2003. Almost 50 children were born with disabilities caused by congenital rubella syndrome. Romania did not give MMR vaccination to all children at that time.

Source:
Rafila A, Marin M, Pistol A, et al.
A large rubella outbreak, Roma: 2003.
Euro Surveillance. 2004; 9; 7-9.

¹⁰ (Congenital rubella syndrome happens when a mother is infected with rubella during pregnancy and her baby is born with serious birth defects.)

Sources for the information on this page:

UNICEF.Reducing measles mortality.Available at http://www.unicef.org/immunization/index_measles.html (accessed on 18 August 2008).

Peltola H, Davidkin I, Valle M, et al.No measles in Finland.Lancet. 1997; 350: 1364-1365.

de Quadros CA, Olive J, Hersh BS, et al.Measles elimination in the Americas: evolving strategies.Journal of the American Medical Association. 1996; 275: 224-229.

Pan American Health Organization.Expanded program on immunization: surveillance in the Americas.Measles Weekly Bulletin. 1995; 1. Also available at http://www.paho.org/english/ad/fch/im/MBul_1995.pdf (accessed on 18 August 2008).

Morgan-Capner P, Wright J, Miller CL, et al.Surveillance of antibody to measles, mumps, and rubella by age.BMJ. 1988; 297: 770-772.

Peltola H, Heinonen P, Valle M, et al.The elimination of indigenous measles, mumps and rubella from Finland by a 12-year, two-dose vaccination program.New England Journal of Medicine. 1994; 331: 1397-1402.

Cockburn WC.World aspects of the epidemiology of rubella.American Journal of Diseases of Children. 1969; 118: 112-122.

Fry J, Dillane JB, Fry L.Rubella, 1962.BMJ. 1962; 2: 833-834.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Elimination of rubella and congenital rubella syndrome United States, 1969-2004.Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 2005; 54: 279-282.

Rafila A, Marin M, Pistol A, et al.A large rubella outbreak, Roma: 2003.Euro Surveillance. 2004; 9; 7-9.

This information was last updated on Aug 29, 2008

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