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Sabu George, MS
Cornell University Ithaca, NY

JAMA. 1985;254(11):1450-1451.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.—

Measles immunization has substantially reduced the incidence of measles in the United States. However, the large number of recent outbreaks^1,2 of measles is indeed a serious public health problem, as emphasized by Dr Schoenbaum's³ editorial. The yearly costs of routine measles vaccination, surveillance, and response to imported cases may exceed $50 million.⁴ The proportion of imported cases of measles will rise as coverage here increases. Dr Schoenbaum's suggestion that the foreign quarantine service be reinstituted is not cost-effective. Global eradication of measles is the most cost-effective way. As Foege⁴ points out, the $32 million invested in the global smallpox eradication program over 12 years is now saved every three months in this country, because global eradication has made vaccination and surveillance unnecessary.

Eradication of measles is feasible because, like smallpox, measles shows a single antigenic strain and has no animal reservoirs. But it . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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