http://repub.eur.nl/res/aut/4951/ List of Publications en http://repub.eur.nl/static-eur/img/logo.png http://repub.eur.nl http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/39711/ 2002-05-15T00:00:00Z Although the currently used live attenuated measles vaccines are safe and effective, they are dependent on cold chain maintenance and are often ineffective in young infants due to interference by maternal antibody. Therefore, besides vector-based vaccines, different new generation non-replicating candidate measles vaccines are being considered, including nucleic acid vaccines. We have vaccinated cynomolgus macaques transdermally with DNA plasmids encoding measles virus (MV) proteins. Following two vaccinations, low serum antibody responses were detected. Wild-type measles virus challenge 1 year after vaccination showed reduced viraemia in some animals. However, accelerated humoral- and cellular-immune responses were observed in all vaccinated macaques, demonstrating successful priming by the DNA vaccines. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/39723/ 2001-03-21T00:00:00Z Despite the availability of safe and effective live attenuated vaccines, measles continues to be endemic in many developing countries. Control and elimination of measles will be especially difficult in East Africa, because of its limited infrastructure and political instability. We have studied diagnostic and epidemiological aspects of measles in suburban Khartoum, Sudan. Prospective studies were carried out in a cohort of clinically diagnosed measles cases and in a cohort of new-borns, which were both followed up for 2 years. The studies intended to provide a rational basis for improvement of measles vaccination strategies, and strengthen measles research infrastructure in Khartoum. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/9281/ 2000-01-01T00:00:00Z Measles continues to be a major childhood disease in terms of global morbidity and mortality. In the main areas of its endemicity the only available means of diagnosis are based on clinical criteria: the presence of a maculopapular rash and fever accompanied by cough, coryza, and/or conjunctivitis. We have studied 38 clinically diagnosed cases of measles in Khartoum, Sudan, by means of serology, reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR) on throat swabs and virus isolation from lymphocytes. On the basis of serology, 28 patients were diagnosed as having an acute measles virus (MV) infection, while in 10 cases the clinical symptoms proved to have other causes. It was shown that in cases with low serum immunoglobulin M (IgM) levels, an additional measurement of IgG or virus-neutralizing antibodies was necessary to discriminate between patients with an acute MV infection sampled during an early stage of the disease and patients who had experienced an MV infection in the more distant past. The serological laboratory diagnosis was validated by an MV-specific RT-PCR: for all confirmed measles cases tested a fragment of the correct size which hybridized with a third MV-specific primer could be amplified, while all serologically negative cases were also RT-PCR negative. MV could be isolated from 17 out of 23 of the serologically confirmed cases, demonstrating that virus isolation is less reliable as a diagnostic tool than serology or RT-PCR. This study stresses the urgent need for a rapid diagnostic field test for measles.