Dec. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Measles deaths declined 78 percent in the last eight years as a global vaccination campaign inoculated 700 million children and saved 4.3 million lives.

About 164,000 people died from measles last year, compared with 733,000 in 2000, according to a report released today by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization. While measles deaths dropped almost 17 percent in the last year alone, health officials said there are signs that progress in fighting the disease is slowing.

Measles, the world’s leading cause of death in children, is a contagious respiratory illness spread through coughing and sneezing. The CDC and WHO worked with poor countries to increase use of a two-dose vaccine that costs about $1 to administer. India, which wasn’t a part of the collaboration, now accounts for about 75 percent of worldwide deaths from the virus.

“Today’s news shows the power of vaccination,” CDC Director Thomas Frieden said in a conference call today. “India, where one-third of the world’s unvaccinated infants live, still has a ways to go.”

The vaccine should be given to all children before their first birthday, with a second dose at 18 to 24 months, according to the American Red Cross. The agency is part of the collaboration, known as the Measles Initiative, which is a mix of governments, companies and aid organizations that help poor countries buy and distribute shots.

Measles Initiative

In regions with poor vaccination coverage, the initiative helps provide shots to all children ages 9 months to 15 years regardless of vaccination history. For some children it will be a second shot, for others their first. A single shot prevents the disease for the majority of children.

India plans to start a two-dose vaccination campaign in about half the country’s states beginning next year.

Measles symptoms include rash, high fever, cough, runny nose and reddened, watery eyes. Some people also develop an ear infection, diarrhea, lung infection or brain inflammation. The disease kills as few as 1 in 1,000 children who are infected in developed countries and 15 percent or more of infected children in regions with malnutrition, the CDC’s Frieden said.

The Measles Initiative is $59 million short of the fundraising goals needed to meet its goals next year, the group said in a statement. Health authorities from the CDC and WHO said they fear government complacency and a lack of funding may quickly reverse the progress made against measles, resulting in an additional 1.7 million deaths from 2010 to 2013.

To contact the reporter on this story: Tom Randall in New York at trandall6@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: December 3, 2009 12:00 EST