Travelers Returning With Measles From Thailand To Finland, April 2012: Infection Control Measures

Tuesday, 24th of December 2013

[source]Euro Surveillance and Outbreaks Report[|source]

Outbreaks of measles still occur repeatedly in Europe in many areas where vaccination coverage is not sufficiently high. In countries with high coverage, such as Finland (>95%), the small proportion of unprotected citizens (unvaccinated or not having had the disease) are virtually at no risk of contracting the virus, as it has ceased to circulate among the population. However, such individuals may get infected when travelling and, after their return, transmit the virus to others who are also unprotected. Thus not even high vaccination coverage will prevent local clusters of measles outbreaks. Once measles is suspected, infection control is urgently needed to prevent its potential spread. Notably, the suspicion of measles should not be delayed in countries with no autochthonous measles.

In this article, the authors document two travelers from Finland and one from Estonia who were diagnosed with measles after returning from Phuket, Thailand. They were contagious on their return flights and subsequently exposed several individuals, prompting extensive infection control measures. More details on this simple but yet informative paper are available at: http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=20184

 

Abstract

Countries with no autochthonous measles run the risk of the virus being imported by travelers and transmitted to unprotected citizens. In April 2012, two travelers from Finland and one from Estonia were diagnosed with measles after returning from Phuket, Thailand. They were contagious on their return flights and subsequently exposed several individuals, prompting extensive infection control measures. Two secondary cases were detected: one child who had received one vaccine dose and another who was fully vaccinated.