title: Outbreak of measles in a teenage school population: the need to immunize susceptible adolescents.
abstract: An outbreak of measles occurred in a community school and the surrounding area in Crowborough, East Sussex, UK, from December 1992 to February 1993. There were 96 suspected cases reported: 66 cases among 1673 students at one school and 30 community cases. The majority of suspected cases were in those aged 11-17 (78%), 2 cases occurred in infants < 1 year old and 8 cases in adults aged 18 years or over. Data collected on 60 (91%) of the 66 suspect school cases showed 56 (93%) had an illness which met a case definition of measles. Eighteen had confirmatory IgM measles antibody. Two cases were hospitalized. The local percentage uptake for measles immunization for the school age years affected varied between 64% and 84%. A survey of parents showed that approximately 74% of the students attending the school had a history of measles immunization. The immunization rates reported by parents for children who developed measles was 21%, (29% based on GP records) compared with 77% for those who remained well. Vaccine efficacy was estimated to be 92%. This outbreak, along with others recently reported in older unimmunized children in the UK, reinforces the need for catch-up immunization programmes to reach this susceptible group of adolescents.
authors.affiliation: PHLS Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre, London.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Morse
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: O'Shea
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hamilton
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Soltanpoor
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Leece
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Brown
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000302:isolation & purification; D002648:Child; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D006801:Humans; D007114:Immunization; D007075:Immunoglobulin M / Q000097:blood; D007223:Infant; D008457:Measles / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control; D008459:Measles virus / Q000276:immunology; D012574:Schools; D012621:Seasons; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D007075:Immunoglobulin M