In an update on the measles outbreak in Romania since September 2016, the Romanian National Institute of Public Health reported 3,196 confirmed measles cases, including 16 fatalities, as of Mar. 3.

Image/geralt
Image/geralt

In addition, several other EU Member States are reporting cluster of measles cases including Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain and Sweden.

Last week, the Ministry of Health of Hungary reported a nosocomial measles outbreak in a hospital in Csongrad among healthcare workers. Four cases have been confirmed and further cases are under investigation.

In Barcelona, Spain,  27 cases of measles have been confirmed as of Mar. 3.  The outbreak began in the first week of January from a case imported from China. The confirmed cases are 2 children and the rest are adults from 24 to 54 years of age, all of them not vaccinated or incompletely vaccinated; 6 of the cases have required hospitalization.

In a recent clarification by Romanian health officials concerning the measles epidemic in Belgium (computer translated), there has been 30 confirmed measles cases.

MMR vaccination rates have fallen in recent years in Romania to below the 95% threshold recommended to interrupt transmission. According to the ECDC, coverage for one dose was just 86% in 2015 in Romania compared with 97% in 2007.

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