antibody detection is the most versatile and commonly used method for measles diagnosis. detection of specific igm antibodies in a single serum specimen collected within the appropriate time after rash onset can provide a good presumptive diagnosis of current or recent measles infection and is the test of choice for rapid diagnosis of measles cases. so, optimal timing for collection of a single...

Since March 2010 a measles outbreak has been occurred in Genoa, Liguria, an administrative Region in Northern Italy. Epidemiological and molecular data on the outbreak, obtained from the passive mandatory notification system, the laboratory surveillance and an innovative syndrome surveillance system, were investigated. Overall 39 cases were reported in the urban area. Information about demograp...

The purpose of this paper is to review the recent results of the authors in the area of infectious disease modeling by means of branching stochastic processes. This is a new approach involving age-dependent branching models, which turned out to be more appropriate and flexible for describing the spread of an infection in a given population, than discrete time ones. Concretely, Bellman-Harris an...

Seasonal changes in the environment are known to be important drivers of population dynamics, giving rise to sustained population cycles. However, it is often difficult to measure the strength and shape of seasonal forces affecting populations. In recent years, statistical time-series methods have been applied to the incidence records of childhood infectious diseases in an attempt to estimate s...

Varicella is a common viral disease affecting almost the entire birth cohort. Although usually self-limiting, some cases of varicella can be serious, with 2 to 6% of cases attending a general practice resulting in complications. The hospitalisation rate for varicella in Europe ranges from 1.3 to 4.5 per 100,000 population/year and up to 10.1% of hospitalised patients report permanent or possibl...

background: molecular epidemiology of measles virus (mv) is important, not only to measure the success of measles vaccination programs but also to monitor the circulation and elimination of the virus worldwide. in this study, we compared mv obtained from patients before the 2003 mass vaccination mr campaign and viruses detected after 2003 until 2008 in iran. methods: the nucleoprotein (n) gene ...

Measles is a paediatric exanthematous disease. Even though vaccination has dramatically reduced measles morbidity and mortality, outbreaks still occur due to insufficient vaccination coverage and importation of the virus from endemic regions. Although child vaccination coverage in Italy has been broadened (from 74% in 2000 to 90.1% in 2011), outbreaks are still observed at a regional level. We ...

Background: To date, 36 years has passed since the beginning of measles vaccination; the disease is still circulating around the world, threatening lives of human beings especially in developing countries.  In recent years, we have confronted measles in previously vaccinated adults from all over the country. Objective: To find out if there is a need for changing our routine measles vaccination ...

In practical medicine, standards for the provision of therapeutic and preventive care have been used a long time, but in epidemiology this concept has not yet reflected regulatory documents. Epidemiologists need standard epidemiological investigation cases measles rubella infection, which must be eliminated. The use specific terms, interaction specialists various profiles, emphasis on classific...