Medical importance of measles in the U.S.S.R.

Abstract

The average morbidity rate for measles in the last 10 to 12 years in the U.S.S.R. is 12 per 1,000 inhabitants. Careful review in one area revealed that this reported incidence was only 75% to 80% of the true rate. The true morbidity rate probably approaches the birth rate of 25 per 1,000 inhabitants. The incidence of measles appears to be the same during the last 30 years. However, mortality rates have declined in the past 10 years from a rate of 3,000-4,000 to 700-800 deaths per year. More than 90% of these deaths have occurred in children under 2 years of age. Approximately one-fourth of all pneumonias are related to or directly caused by measles. Measles is also responsible for recrudescence of intestinal diseases, dysentery, and tuberculosis. Attention must be drawn to measles, as it is one of the important diseases of pre-school-age children in the U.S.S.R. and it