Molecular epidemiology studies have made significant contributions to the control of measles virus infection through the identification of source and transmission pathways of the virus. These studies allow observation of changes in measles virus genotypes over time in a particular geographical location, clarification of epidemiological links during measles outbreaks, separation of indigenous st...

BACKGROUND Measles is a highly infectious disease caused by measles virus (MeV). Despite the availability of a safe and cost-effective vaccine, measles is one of the world-leading causes of death in young children. Within Europe, there is a target for eliminating endemic measles in 2015, with molecular epidemiology required on 80% of cases for inclusion/exclusion of outbreak transmission chains...

BACKGROUND The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the case-fatality rate (CFR) for measles in West Africa is 4%-6%. In Niger, 50,138 measles cases and 201 deaths (CFR, 0.4%) were reported in 2003. We conducted an investigation to determine the epidemiology and the true CFR of measles in the Mirriah district in Niger. METHODS Twenty-two villages from the Mirriah district that repor...

The virulence of rubella virus for the fetus was fully defined between 1963 and 1965 when an epidemic of rubella occurred in Europe and the US, followed by a wave of damaged babies. Attenuated live virus vaccines were developed in our and other laboratories and their use has already considerably changed the epidemiology of rubella. Nevertheless, only about half of the world’s countries vaccinat...

Previous studies on the molecular epidemiology of measles virus in Nigeria shows that genotype B3 clusters 1 and 2 are the circulating measles genotype. We report the isolation of measles virus strain of close similarity to reference genotype A measles virus strain from Ibadan, Nigeria. Molecular characterization of a measles virus isolate from a child presenting with fever and rash in a hospit...

Enhanced surveillance for infectious disease events, with accelerated routine reporting and daily supplementary reports, was undertaken during the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. We evaluated the surveillance outputs, reporting intervals and detection of World Cup-relevant events for the enhanced system. Outbreak numbers for measles, Norovirus and Campylobacter were significantly higher than in...

Only limited data are available on the impact of measles outbreak response immunization (ORI) in developing countries. We conducted a community survey in Espindola, a rural border community in northern Peru, following a measles outbreak and subsequent ORI to study the epidemiology and impact of the outbreak and to evaluate the costs and benefits of measles ORI. During the outbreak, 150 of the 5...

INTRODUCTION Measles is a public health problem especially in South Asia and Africa. Nylon Health District has experienced two measles outbreaks over a period of three years. We hereby describe the epidemiology and clinical characteristics of the outbreak of February 2011. METHODS A retrospective descriptive cross sectional study was conducted in November 2011. All suspected measles cases acc...