Americas region is world's first to be free of measles

MIAMI MEASLES has been eradicated from the Americas after decades of vaccination efforts, making it the first region of the world to rid itself of the highly contagious disease, global health authorities said on Tuesday. Measles remains a top killer of children worldwide, and took nearly 115,000 lives in 2014 -- or about 13 deaths every hour -- according to the World Health Organization. Before vaccination became widespread around the globe, measles killed about 2.6 million people per year."Endemic transmission of measles has been eliminated from the region," said World Health Organization director Margaret Chan. (AFP)