An ongoing multi-state outbreak of measles linked to non-immune anthroposophic communities in Austria, Germany, and Norway, March-April 2008

D Schmid; H Holzmann; S Abele; S Kasper; S König; S Meusburger; H Hrabcik; A Luckner-Hornischer; E Bechter; A DeMartin; Jana Stirling; A Heißenhuber; A Siedler; H Bernard; G Pfaff; D Schorr; M S Ludwig; HP Zimmerman; Ø Løvoll; P Aavitsland; F Allerberger

doi:10.2807/ese.13.16.18838-en

Rapid communications Open Access

Like 0

Download

An ongoing multi-state outbreak of measles linked to non-immune anthroposophic communities in Austria, Germany, and Norway, March-April 2008
D Schmid¹ , H Holzmann² , S Abele² , S Kasper¹ , S König³ , S Meusburger³ , H Hrabcik³ , A Luckner-Hornischer³ , E Bechter³ , A DeMartin³ , Jana Stirling³ , A Heißenhuber⁴ , A Siedler⁴ , H Bernard⁴ , G Pfaff ⁴ , D Schorr⁵ , M S Ludwig⁵ , HP Zimmerman⁵ , Ø Løvoll⁶ , P Aavitsland⁶ , F Allerberger¹
View Affiliations Hide Affiliations

Affiliations: ¹ Österreichische Agentur für Gesundheit und Ernährungssicherheit (Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety, AGES), Vienna, Austria ² National Measles Reference Centre, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria ³ Austrian Public Health Authorities, Salzburg/Linz/Innsbruck/Vienna, Austria ⁴ German Public Health Authorities and Robert-Koch institute, Oberschleißheim/Stuttgart/Berlin, Germany ⁵ Swiss Public Health Authorities, Liestal/Bern, Switzerland ⁶ Folkehelseinstituttet (Norwegian National Institute of Health, FHI), Oslo, Norway

Correspondence:
F Allerberger
franz.allerberger ages.at
View Citation Hide Citation

Citation style for this article: Schmid D, Holzmann H, Abele S, Kasper S, König S, Meusburger S, Hrabcik H, Luckner-Hornischer A, Bechter E, DeMartin A, Stirling Jana, Heißenhuber A, Siedler A, Bernard H, Pfaff G, Schorr D, Ludwig M S, Zimmerman HP, Løvoll Ø, Aavitsland P, Allerberger F. An ongoing multi-state outbreak of measles linked to non-immune anthroposophic communities in Austria, Germany, and Norway, March-April 2008. Euro Surveill. 2008;13(16):pii=18838. https://doi.org/10.2807/ese.13.16.18838-en Received: 14 Apr 2008

Abstract

From the second week of March 2008, public health authorities in the province of Salzburg observed an increased number of measles cases compared to previous years. Twenty cases of measles had been were notified Austria-wide in 2007, 24 in 2006, 10 in 2005, and 14 in 2004. The current outbreak has affected, as of 14 April, 202 people in Austria, 53 in Germany, and four in Norway, bringing the total number of cases related to this outbreak to 259. The initial case series investigation revealed that the common link was attendance of an anthroposophic school and day care centre in Salzburg city. The majority of the pupils were not vaccinated against measles.