Status of Measles Antibody Protection and Immune Memory Evaluation for Teenagers in Taiwan

Measles virus is a highly contagious virus that can still cause death in developing or unvaccinated countries. The Taiwanese government fully implemented the measles vaccine in 1978. Due to the high vaccinated rate of measles vaccination and the high development of medical care, measles cases have fallen sharply. However, World Health Organization statistics report also pointed out that the number of global measles cases increased by more than 110,000 in 2018, and 89 measles confirmed cases were discovered in Taiwan in the first five months of 2019. The measles antibody efficacy data of 969 healthy MV-vaccinated adolescents were collected and analyzed. This study explores the proportion of effective measles antibody protection in MV-vaccinated generations born in the period between 1998 and 2002 to their age of 16 and 17-years-old. Overall, the prevalence of measles antibody was 57.48% to their aged 16 years and 6 months to 17 years and 5 months old. This study observed the rate of measles antibody protection in modern adolescents is not sufficient even in the country with a high level of vaccination coverage; this may explain the possibility of measles outbreak and can be a basis for future evaluation of adult measles vaccination policy.