Measles is an extremely contagious disease that can cause serious health outcomes in children. Routine vaccination has greatly reduced measles deaths in recent years, but very high vaccination coverage is needed in all countries to prevent disease outbreaks. In a Research Article in PLOS Medicine, Justin Lessler of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA and colleagues describe a modeling study aimed at assessing the potential benefits of using supplementary vaccination campaigns triggered by measles outbreaks or by serological surveys of population immunity as part of a measles control strategy.

By carrying out simulations based on four scenarios capturing different levels of measles incidence, Lessler and colleagues estimate that supplemental vaccination campaigns triggered by disease outbreaks could prevent 28,613 cases (95% confidence interval [CI] 25,722-31,505) over 15 y in high-incidence settings, and 599 cases (95% CI 464-735) in the lowest-incidence setting examined. Vaccination campaigns prompted by serological surveys, in contrast, could prevent 89,173 cases (95% CI 86,768-91,577) and 744 (95% CI 612-876) cases in the highest- and lowest-incidence settings, respectively, but would need to occur annually in high-incidence settings.

In a Perspective discussing the research, Julie Garon and Walter Orenstein of the Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA note the importance of developing routine immunization systems, not only to prevent infectious diseases but to strengthen health systems as a whole.

This work was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (Award #705580-3) (JL, CJEM, and BTG); the RAPIDD program of the Science & Technology Directorate, Department of Homeland Security and the NIH Fogarty International Center (JL, CJEM, and BTG), and a grant from the Science and Technology Directorate, Department of Homeland Security (HSHQDC-12 C-00058) (BTG). BTG is a member of the leadership team for the RAPIDD program at the Fogarty International Center. This program is funded by the Science & Technology Directorate of the Department of Homeland Security, which had no role in the design, data collection, analysis, decision to publish or preparation of this manuscript.

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Article: Impact on Epidemic Measles of Vaccination Campaigns Triggered by Disease Outbreaks or Serosurveys: A Modeling Study, Lessler J, Metcalf CJE, Cutts FT, Grenfell BT, PLOS Medicine, doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1002144, published 11 October 2016.

Perspective Article: Improving the Science of Measles Prevention - Will It Make for a Better Immunization Program? Garon J, Orenstein W, em>PLOS Medicine, doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1002145, published 11 October 2016.

WO and JG receive funding from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation under Grant OPP1095024. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing Interests:

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.