Measles vaccination failure--cause for concern?

The author describes a propagated epidemic of measles virus infection on the north-west coast of Tasmania. Almost 20 per cent of children between the ages of 1 year and 15 years contracted the illness, 45 per cent of whom were previously vaccinated. A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the incidence of infection and the vaccination status of the community and to investigate the apparent measles vaccine failure.