A little perspective first...
The fatality rate from measles for otherwise healthy people in developed countries is 3 deaths per thousand cases. In underdeveloped nations with high rates of malnutrition and poor healthcare, fatality rates have been as high as 28%. In immunocompromised patients, the fatality rate is approximately 30 percent.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Measles
Measles—Immunity
There are three kinds of immunity to measles: passive immunity, natural immunity, and immunity derived from vaccination. Infants born to mothers who have either had measles or been vaccinated are protected by maternal antibodies; that is, they have passive immunity. This protection lasts six months on average, and then the child becomes susceptible to measles. A person is naturally immune if he or she has had contact with the measles virus and has developed antibodies against it. People born before 1957 are considered naturally immune because of the high probability that they were exposed to the virus during childhood. People born after 1957 are considered immune if they have been fully vaccinated, have had a confirmed case of measles, or have had blood tests that confirm previous exposure to the virus. Full vaccination requires two doses of vaccine: one between the ages of 12 to 18 months, and the other between the ages of 4 to 6 years or 11 to 12 years. (The second dose helps catch the small number of people who do not become immunized by the first dose.)
http://science.education.nih.gov/supplements/nih1/diseases/activities/activity5_measles-database.htm
Measles is not fatal and the death rate from complications in a healthy sanitary population is 3 in 1,000 or 0.3%
Once you contract and recover from Measles you have what is called Natural Immunity...for life!
http://science.education.nih.gov/supplements/nih1/diseases/activities/activity5_measles-database.htm
More German children need measles jabs: WHO studyMon Feb 2, 2009 10:37am EST
GENEVA (Reuters) - More children in Germany must be vaccinated against measles to prevent another widespread outbreak, a World Health Organization (WHO) study published on Monday said.
More than 12,000 people were infected with measles three years ago in Germany, Romania, Britain, Switzerland and Italy in an unusual epidemic caused by relatively low immunization rates against the contagious viral disease.
"The 2006 measles outbreak ... must be regarded as a wake-up call," experts from Berlin's Robert Koch Institute and two German public health centers said in the latest WHO Bulletin, in a study that focused only on Germany.
They said vaccination coverage rates remain dangerously low, putting children at continuing risk of the viral disease that killed 197,000 people in 2007.
"Immediate nationwide school-based catch-up vaccination campaigns targeting older age groups are needed to close critical immunity gaps," the researchers said, noting German children aged 10 to 14 were most affected in the 2006 outbreak.
Vaccination rates across Europe range from above 95 percent in Finland to as low as 70 percent for children born between 1996 and 2003 in Germany, according to a separate study published last month in The Lancet.
Europe will need about 95 percent of vaccination coverage to halt the risk of an outbreak of measles, whose main symptoms are high fever and rash, with potential complications including blindness, encephalitis, ear infections, and pneumonia.
Two doses of measles vaccine are recommended for immunity.
Although a measles vaccine has been available since 1963, some parents' refusal to have their children vaccinated has sparked a resurgence in cases in Europe as well as the United States in recent years.
Public health officials have stressed the safety of the combined measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) jab and other childhood vaccines in response to concerns from some groups who say the shot may cause autism or other health problems.
Measles can spread easily when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or talks. About 90 percent of unvaccinated people who contact a measles patient become infected.
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE5112PH20090202?feedType=nl&feedName=ushealth1100
