title: A case study of measles vaccination for university students during the measles outbreak in Tokyo, Japan, 2007.
abstract: In April 2007, seven students belonging to the same class at Teikyo University developed measles. To prevent the spread of infection, 27 of 106 students in the same class who had low anti-measles antibody titers as measured by hemagglutination inhibition (HI) assay were vaccinated. After the outbreak had subsided, the HI values were investigated in 103 students, and they answered questionnaires about their health condition during the period of the outbreak and their previous clinical histories of measles, including vaccination records. There was no new case of measles after introduction of the vaccination program. However, the HI titers of 42% of the students who were not vaccinated in this program were significantly elevated. Fever and catarrhal signs occurred in 7 of these students with pre-exposure titers of 8 or less. The post-exposure HI titers of 71% of students who were unaffected by measles and had high HI titers (>8) before the epidemic did not increase. These results suggested that people with low HI titers may become potential carriers of measles and that measurement of pre-exposure HI anti-measles antibody titer is a useful method for selection of candidates to undergo vaccination.
authors.affiliation: Emergency Room of Teikyo University Hospital, 2-11-1 Kaga, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo 173-8605, Japan.
authors.forename: Ryuichi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fujisaki
authors.forename: Mariko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yamamura
authors.forename: Shigeru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Abe
authors.forename: Kousuke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shimogawara
authors.forename: Michihiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kasahara
authors.forename: Hajime
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nishiya
authors.forename: Miho
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Makimura
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Makimura
mesh_terms: D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D006385:Hemagglutination Inhibition Tests; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D007564:Japan; D032541:Mass Vaccination / Q000379:methods*; D008457:Measles / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008458:Measles Vaccine / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000276:immunology*; D008459:Measles virus / Q000276:immunology; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014041:Tokyo / Q000453:epidemiology; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D008458:Measles Vaccine