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Ongoing measles outbreak in Wallonia, Belgium, December 2016 to March 2017: characteristics and challenges
- Tine Grammens1 , Carole Schirvel2 , Sylvie Leenen2 , Nathalie Shodu2 , Veronik Hutse3 , Elise Mendes da Costa1 , Martine Sabbe1
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View Affiliations Hide AffiliationsAffiliations: 1 Service of Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases, Department of Public Health and Surveillance, Scientific Institute of Public Health, Brussels, Belgium 2 Infectious Disease Surveillance Unit, Agence pour une Vie de Qualité (AVIQ), Walloon region, Charleroi, Belgium 3 National Reference Centre for measles, mumps and rubella, Service of Viral Diseases, Scientific Institute of Public Health, Brussels, BelgiumTine Grammenstine.grammens wiv-isp.be
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Citation style for this article: Grammens Tine, Schirvel Carole, Leenen Sylvie, Shodu Nathalie, Hutse Veronik, Mendes da Costa Elise, Sabbe Martine. Ongoing measles outbreak in Wallonia, Belgium, December 2016 to March 2017: characteristics and challenges. Euro Surveill. 2017;22(17):pii=30524. https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2017.22.17.30524 Received: 11 Apr 2017; Accepted: 27 Apr 2017
Abstract
We describe characteristics of an ongoing measles outbreak in Wallonia, Belgium, and difficulties in control measures implementation. As at 12 March 2017, 177 measles cases were notified, of which 50% were 15 years and older, 49% female. Atypical clinical presentation and severe complications, mainly among adults, in combination with late notification, low or unknown vaccination coverage of contacts, infected healthcare workers and increased workload due to contact tracing, are the main concerns for outbreak management.
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