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History of Vaccines: Measles

Last Updated: Oct 11, 2024 12:14 PM

History and Vaccine

Measles is an airborne disease that can cause white spots known as Koplik's Spots to appear in the mouth and a flat red rash to spread across the body. While it has similar symptoms, Rubella also manifests a rash across the body though it is itchy and not a bright as measles. Mumps often features painful swelling of the parotid glands. The MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella) vaccine helps prevent the spread of these three diseases. While this section of the guide is about the MMR vaccine, the focus will mostly be on measles.

The first known description of Measles comes from a Persian physician named Abu Bakr Muhammad Ibn Zakariya around 910 A.C.E. Since Measles is an endemic disease, it can exist in a community even after people develop resistance to the disease. This can make the spread of the disease devastating to communities that have not been previously exposed. The most infamous example of this was the spread of measles in the Americas after its introduction by European settlers. In 1529, a measles outbreak wiped out two-thirds of the indigenous people in Cuba. The disease also wiped out half of the indigenous population in Mexico, Honduras, and the Inca Empire. 

An image of the impact of Measles on the indigenous population of Mexico. The graph on the left shows the population from 1519 to 1629 with the y-axis showing the population in the millions. 

Source: Hoff, B., Smith, C., & Calisher, C. (2000). Mapping epidemics : a historical atlas of disease / Brent Hoff and Carter Smith III ; Charles H. Calisher, consulting editor. Franklin Watts.


Sources: 

Cohen S. G. (2008). Measles and immunomodulation. The Journal of allergy and clinical immunology121(2), 543–544. https://doi-org.gate.lib.buffalo.edu/10.1016/j.jaci.2007.12.1152

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021, May 3). Measles Cases and Outbreaks. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/measles/cases-outbreaks.html.

Hendriks, J., & Blume, S. (2013, August). Measles vaccination before the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine. American journal of public health. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4007870/.

The College of Physicians of Philadelphia. (n.d.). Measles. Timeline | History of Vaccines. https://historyofvaccines.org/history/measles/timeline

Books

Development of a Measles Vaccine

The first two Measles vaccines were approved for use in 1963. These included the Pharmaceutical company Merk's live vaccine Rubeovax and Pfizer's inactivated vaccine Pfizer-Vax Measles–K. While the live attenuated vaccine seemed to provide better long-term protection, the vaccine had unpleasant side effects. The inactivated did not have side effects, yet its long-term protection was questionable.  Between 1969 and 1971, Maurice Hilleman began developing a vaccine for the Measles, Mumps, and Rubella viruses. The MMR vaccine provided 96% of vaccinated children immunity from measles, 95% to Mumps, and 94% to Rubella. A Measles Elimination Program was formed with the goal of defeating Measles in the United States by 1982. By April of 1981, it seemed that this goal might be met with an 80% drop in cases compared to the previous year. However, from 1989 to 1991 there were resurgent outbreaks of Measles in areas with low vaccination rates.


Sources: 

Cohen S. G. (2008). Measles and immunomodulation. The Journal of allergy and clinical immunology121(2), 543–544. https://doi-org.gate.lib.buffalo.edu/10.1016/j.jaci.2007.12.1152

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021, May 3). Measles Cases and Outbreaks. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/measles/data-research/?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/measles/cases-outbreaks.html

Hendriks, J., & Blume, S. (2013, August). Measles vaccination before the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine. American journal of public health. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4007870/

The College of Physicians of Philadelphia. (n.d.). Measles. Timeline | History of Vaccines. https://historyofvaccines.org/history/measles/timeline

Ellis Island, Measles Ward

The Measles Ward on Ellis Island

Source: Library of Congress. Permission: No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government. 

Credit Line: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, HABS, HABS NY-6086-T-1

 

Misinformation related to the MMR Vaccine

The history of Measles and the MMR vaccine shows that these diseases can make a comeback even when the means to eradicate these diseases are at hand. In 1998, British researcher Andrew Wakefield claimed in a publication in The Lancet that the MMR vaccine was causing autism in children. Subsequent revelations however revealed that Wakefield had engaged in unethical practices in his study and stood to profit from negativity towards the MMR vaccine. For example, it was revealed in 2004 that many of the children recruited for Wakefield's study were chosen by a lawyer involved in lawsuits against vaccine manufacturers. Despite these revelations and many of the co-authors retracting their names from Wakefield's paper, many people continued to believe his claims. Even though endemic measles had been eliminated from the U.S. in the year 2000, this did not prevent measles outbreaks overseas and an eventual resurgence of the virus in 2008 in the U.S. The greatest number of measles cases since 1992 was in 2019. The majority of measles cases were from unvaccinated individuals and spread quickly in communities that did not have high vaccination rates.


Sources: 

Cohen S. G. (2008). Measles and immunomodulation. The Journal of allergy and clinical immunology121(2), 543–544. https://doi-org.gate.lib.buffalo.edu/10.1016/j.jaci.2007.12.1152

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021, May 3). Measles Cases and Outbreaks. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/measles/cases-outbreaks.html

Hendriks, J., & Blume, S. (2013, August). Measles vaccination before the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine. American journal of public health. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4007870

The College of Physicians of Philadelphia. (n.d.). Measles. Timeline | History of Vaccines. https://historyofvaccines.org/history/measles/timeline