A

"ROUTINE ILLNESS": MEASLES

A Serious Disease

Measles was considered a routine childhood illness in 1960. Most children contracted the disease; this was considered a good thing because an adult's infection was thought to be much more serious. Many people did not realize how dangerous measles could be for children, though. Of four million cases in America each year, four hundred—mostly children—ended in death. One out of every four thousand children with measles recovered but was mentally retarded. This "simple" childhood illness was not at all simple.

The Enders Vaccine

In the late 1950s Dr. John Enders isolated the measles virus. In 1961 he and his colleagues at Harvard University introduced a live-virus vaccine. To reduce side effects, which included fever and rashes, the vaccine was injected in a mixture of gamma globulin. Early tests on children showed the. vaccine gave nearly 100 percent immunity.

Live-Virus versus Killed-Virus Vaccine

In 1963 two vaccines were approved for general use. The Merck, Sharpe, and Dohme live-virus vaccine was grown in eggs. It was injected in a mixture of gamma globulin, like the original Enders vaccine from which it was developed. Chas Pfizer and Company was approved to distribute a killed-virus vaccine, but it required three doses injected at monthly intervals. Its effects did not last as long as those of the live-virus, however. Even though the live-virus vaccine was a superior safeguard, the killed-virus vaccine was necessary: the live-virus could not be given to pregnant women, people with leukemia, or anyone with sensitivity to eggs.