Prevention

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that children and adults receive the measles vaccine to prevent measles.

Measles vaccine in children

To prevent measles in children, doctors usually give infants the first dose of the vaccine between 12 and 15 months, with the second dose typically given between ages 4 and 6 years. Keep in mind:

• If you'll be traveling abroad when your child is 6 to 11 months old, talk with your child's doctor about getting the measles vaccine earlier.
• If your child or teenager didn't get the two doses at the recommended times, he or she may need two doses of the vaccine four weeks apart.

Measles vaccine in adults

You may need the measles vaccine if you're an adult who:

• Has an increased risk of measles — such as attending college, traveling internationally or working in a hospital environment — and you don't have proof of immunity. Proof of immunity includes written documentation of your vaccinations or lab confirmation of immunity or previous illness.
• Was born in 1957 or later and you don't have proof of immunity. Proof of immunity includes written documentation of your vaccinations or lab confirmation of immunity or previous illness.

If you're not sure if you need the measles vaccine, talk to your doctor.

Preventing measles during an outbreak or known infection

If someone in your household has measles, take these precautions to protect vulnerable family and friends:

• Isolation. Because measles is highly contagious from about four days before to four days after the rash breaks out, people with measles shouldn't return to activities in which they interact with other people during this period.

  It may also be necessary to keep nonimmunized people — siblings, for example — away from the infected person.

• Vaccinate. Be sure that anyone who's at risk of getting the measles who hasn't been fully vaccinated receives the measles vaccine as soon as possible. This includes infants older than 6 months and anyone born in 1957 or later who doesn't have written documentation of being vaccinated, or who doesn't have evidence of immunity or having had measles in the past.

Preventing new infections

If you've already had measles, your body has built up its immune system to fight the infection, and you can't get measles again. Most people born or living in the United States before 1957 are immune to measles, simply because they've already had it.

For everyone else, there's the measles vaccine, which is important for:

• Promoting and preserving widespread immunity. Since the introduction of the measles vaccine, measles has virtually been eliminated in the United States, even though not everyone has been vaccinated. This effect is called herd immunity.

  But herd immunity may now be weakening a bit, likely due to a drop in vaccination rates. The incidence of measles in the U.S. recently increased significantly.

• Preventing a resurgence of measles. Steady vaccination rates are important because soon after vaccination rates decline, measles begins to come back. In 1998, a now-discredited study was published incorrectly linking autism to the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine.

  In the United Kingdom, where the study originated, the rate of vaccination dropped to an all-time low of about 80% of all children in 2003-2004. In 2008, there were nearly 1,400 lab-confirmed cases of measles in England and Wales.