MEASLES AMONG HEALTHCARE WORKERS IN A TEACHING HOSPITAL IN CENTRAL ITALY.

Tuesday, 8th of October 2013

[source]Journal of Occupational Health[|source]

In this article, the authors show that strict adherence to alcohol-based hand rubs and rapid implementation of appropriate isolation measures are essential but insufficient to prevent measles outbreaks in hospital settings; before adding to the list of extra precautions  needed to avoid nosocomial transmission of measles. The report concludes that vaccination is the only reliable protection against nosocomial spread of measles and therefore health care workers should have documented evidence of measles immunity at recruitment, as they place themselves and patients at risk if they are not vaccinated against measles. More details are available at: https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/joh/54/4/54_12-0016-BR/_html

 

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this report is to describe a measles cluster involving health-care workers (HWCs) that occurred in a teaching hospital in central Italy during winter 2011 and the efforts made to promptly identify all the susceptible contacts in order to stop, as soon as possible, transmission of the infection within the hospital.

METHODS: An epidemiological investigation took place. The immunization status of all the exposed individuals was assessed by personal interviews (history of measles or measles vaccine). Serologic screening for personnel not immune to measles was performed.

RESULTS: Four cases of measles infection in HCWs were identified; of the 72 HCWs tested for measles immunity, 50 reported a past history of measles, while 22 underwent serological screening, which showed that all were IgG positive except for one case, which was excluded from duty as recommended. Strict adherence to use of alcohol-based hand rub and rapid implementation of appropriate isolation precautions are essential but insufficient to prevent measles outbreaks in hospital settings. Vaccination is the only reliable protection against nosocomial spread of measles. Therefore, assessing the immunization status of HCW and implementing vaccination strategies are needed in order to virtually set to zero the risk of acquiring and spreading measles in healthcare settings.