Large measles outbreak in Geneva, Switzerland, January to August 2011: descriptive epidemiology and demonstration of quarantine effectiveness

E Delaporte; C A Wyler Lazarevic; A Iten; P Sudre

doi:10.2807/ese.18.06.20395-en

Surveillance and outbreak reports Open Access

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Large measles outbreak in Geneva, Switzerland, January to August 2011: descriptive epidemiology and demonstration of quarantine effectiveness
E Delaporte¹ , C A Wyler Lazarevic² , A Iten³ , P Sudre¹
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Affiliations: ¹ Epidemiology and infectious diseases section, Cantonal Health Service, General Directorate for Health, Geneva, Switzerland ² Youth Health Service, Department of Education, Geneva, Switzerland ³ Hospital Infection control Service, Cantonal University Hospital of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland

Correspondence:
P Sudre
Philippe.Sudre etat.ge.ch
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Citation style for this article: Delaporte E, Wyler Lazarevic C A, Iten A, Sudre P. Large measles outbreak in Geneva, Switzerland, January to August 2011: descriptive epidemiology and demonstration of quarantine effectiveness . Euro Surveill. 2013;18(6):pii=20395. https://doi.org/10.2807/ese.18.06.20395-en Received: 23 Apr 2012

Abstract

Between January and August 2011, the canton of Geneva, Switzerland, experienced a large measles outbreak with 219 cases (47 cases per 100,000 inhabitants) in the context of an extensive epidemic in a neighbouring region of France. Most cases were young adults (median age: 18 years), often unaware of their vaccination status. The vast majority of cases were either not (81%) or incompletely vaccinated (8%). Thirty clusters with a total of 119 cases and a median cluster size of three (range: 2-15 cases) were identified. Overall, 44 cases were imported or linked to imported cases. Of 73 contacts of cases who were quarantined, 50 developed measles and caused six secondary cases. This compares to 81 secondary cases among 173 non-quarantined cases (relative risk: 0.26; 95% confidence interval: 0.06-0.65), demonstrating the effectiveness of well targeted quarantine measures in reducing transmission. .