1. Measles in Europe: an epidemiological assessment.
- Author
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Muscat, Mark, Bang, Henrik, Wohlfahrt, Jan, Glismann, Steffen, and Molbak, Kare
- Subjects
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EPIDEMIOLOGICAL research , *MEASLES , *VACCINATION , *PREVENTION of communicable diseases , *VACCINATION of children - Abstract
The article presents an epidemiological assessment of measles in Europe in relation to the goal of elimination by 2010. Data for age-group, diagnosis confirmation, hospital treatment, vaccination, the presence of acute encephalitis, and death was obtained for 32 European countries. Cases which were clinical, laboratory-confirmed, and epidemiologically linked were analysed. The study found that most cases were from Romania, Germany, Great Britain, Switzerland, and Italy and that most were in unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated children. The authors explain that suboptimum vaccination coverage raises doubts that elimination by 2010 can be achieved and that maintaining optimum vaccination coverage and improved surveillance are necessary for elimination of measles in Europe.
- Published
- 2009
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