Large ongoing measles outbreak in a religious community in the Netherlands since May 2013

M J Knol; A T Urbanus; E M Swart; L Mollema; W L Ruijs; R S van Binnendijk; M J te Wierik; H E de Melker; A Timen; S J Hahné

doi:10.2807/1560-7917.ES2013.18.36.20580

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Large ongoing measles outbreak in a religious community in the Netherlands since May 2013
M J Knol¹ , A T Urbanus¹ , E M Swart¹ , L Mollema¹ , W L Ruijs^1,2 , R S van Binnendijk¹ , M J te Wierik^1,3 , H E de Melker¹ , A Timen¹ , S J Hahné¹
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Affiliations: ¹ Centre for Infectious Disease Control Netherlands, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, the Netherlands ² Municipal Health Service Gelderland Zuid, Tiel, the Netherlands ³ Municipal Health Service Midden Nederland, Zeist, the Netherlands

Correspondence:
M Knol
mirjam.knol rivm.nl
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Citation style for this article: Knol M J, Urbanus A T, Swart E M, Mollema L, Ruijs W L, van Binnendijk R S, te Wierik M J, de Melker H E, Timen A, Hahné S J. Large ongoing measles outbreak in a religious community in the Netherlands since May 2013 . Euro Surveill. 2013;18(36):pii=20580. https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES2013.18.36.20580 Received: 26 Aug 2013

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Abstract

Despite vaccination coverage over 95%, a measles outbreak started in May 2013 in the Netherlands. As of 28 August, there were 1,226 reported cases, including 82 hospitalisations. It is anticipated that the outbreak will continue. Most cases were orthodox Protestants (n=1,087/1,186; 91.7%) and unvaccinated (n=1,174/1,217; 96.5%). A unique outbreak control intervention was implemented: a personal invitation for measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination was sent for all children aged 6-14 months living in municipalities with MMR vaccination coverage below 90%. .