AOJPCH

Volume One - Dec  2002 -Number Two
     
MEASLES IN HONG KONG – 1961 to 2000

Professor Yu-Lung Lau, MD

ABSTRACT

With the use of measles vaccine since 1967, Hong Kong has experienced a relatively lower incidence of measles until a major outbreak occurred in 1988 with an incidence of 56 per 100,000.
Vaccine failures accounted for only 24% of the cases in 1988, therefore control strategies at that time were targeted at increasing the coverage rate rather than introducing a two-dose regimen.
After the 1988 measles outbreak, the incidence of measles was only 1.6 per 100,000 for 1989 and 1999. A second dose of MMR vaccine was introduced in 1996 because the proportion of measles cases with a history of measles vaccination rose from 16% in 1991 to 43% in 1996.
An outbreak, mainly because of failure of the first dose to produce immunity, seemed imminent in mid-1997, hence a mass vaccination campaign to vaccinate over one million children aged 1-19 was conducted.
After the campaign, the incidence of measles fell to less than 1 per 100,000 between 1998 and 2000. A two-dose strategy and supplementary campaign will maintain measles susceptibility at low levels in Hong Kong, hence paving the way for the eradication of measles.

Keywords: Measles, Epidemiology, Vaccine

Correspondence to: Prof Y.L Lau, Department of Paediatrics & Adolescent Medicine Queen Mary Hospital, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Updated 15th August 2005

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