Measles vaccine cuts risk of other childhood diseases

Science Focus

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The control of measles through vaccines is one of the most successful public health interventions in recent years. The vaccine has reduced childhood mortality by 30 to 50 percent in some countries; this reduction is even larger in the most impoverished populations, reaching up to 90 percent. Yet the vaccine appears to have additional benefits that are still poorly understood.

A measles infection is typically accompanied by a severe immunosuppression, often thought to be transient, which increases the host’s susceptibility to other illnesses. The World Health Organization recently concluded that the vaccine is associated with large reductions in childhood mortality, regardless of infectious agent. Thus, in addition to its intended target, the vaccine appears to prevent some opportunistic infections.

But rather than a transient benefit, research has demonstrated that the protective effects of the measles vaccine can lead to a reduction in infectious disease mortality of roughly five years—and even persist for life in some cases.

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