ONGOING MEASLES OUTBREAK IN ORTHODOX JEWISH COMMUNITY, LONDON, UK.

Monday, 30th of September 2013

[source]Emerging Infectious Diseases[|source]

In a letter to the editor, Vanessa Baugh and colleagues write about  a measles outbreak that has been largely contained within London’s Orthodox Jewish communities, with limited spread outside of the city and to just 1 local non–Orthodox Jewish child. The letter in turn describes targeted response actions that engaged the leadership of the high-risk communities. The response mainly articulates active case finding and awareness raising campaigns undertaken by the health protection team, National Health Service (NHS) public health departments, and community NHS services focused on health and education services and Orthodox Jewish communities. Innovative approaches like letter writing to the community leaderships, opening immunization clinic days on Sundays, establishment of community vaccination clinics to complement standard immunization services offered in general practice surgeries and school vaccination clinics in schools that had high measles attack rates. More details are available at:  http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/19/10/13-0258_article.htm

 

Abstract

Measles outbreaks have been reported in Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities across Europe and Israel. We describe an ongoing outbreak within the largest European Orthodox Jewish community based in London, focused in Hackney. Vaccination coverage within this community is lower than in the general population of London, causing low herd immunity and outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases. This ongoing outbreak highlights continued health risks in communities with low vaccination coverage.