Fatal cases of measles have fallen by nearly 75 percent globally since 2000, but big outbreaks in Asian and African states with low vaccination rates jeopardize progress towards eradication, the World Health Organization said on Thursday.The highly-contagious disease is a leading cause of death among young children around the world, especially the poor, malnourished and unvaccinated, it said.Measles has been virtually eliminated in North and South America, and the western Pacific region is on track towards elimination, but Western Europe is lagging due to stagnating vaccine coverage, according to the United Nations agency."The data is showing an overall decline in cases, improvements in vaccine coverage and a decline in deaths," Dr. Robert Perry, a medical officer at WHO's immunization strategies group, told Reuters."We've seen some large outbreaks over this period of time, in countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo, India and Nigeria," he said.Measles deaths globally decreased by 71 percent between 2000 and the end of 2011, from 542,000 to 158,000, according to the WHO's latest data. Over the same period, new cases dropped by 58 percent from 853,500 in 2000 to 355,000 in 2011.
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