Measles among healthcare workers: a potential for nosocomial outbreaks

Abstract

We report here 14 cases of measles among healthcare workers (HCWs) in Public Hospitals of Marseilles, France that occurred between April and November 2010. All cases but one were under 30 years of age. Following the identification of these cases, we checked the immune status among 154 HCWs who volunteered to take part in the study and showed that 93% and 88% were immune against measles and mumps respectively. HCWs non-immunised against measles were all under 30 years of age.

Measles outbreaks – potential threat for health care professionals

“…Our survey demonstrates that still a considerable number of HCP are not protected against measles infection. This is in accordance with previously published data that show that a significant number (6.5–36%) of HCP in different areas of the world lack immunity against measles [ 6 , 7 ]. This may put HCP at risk during local outbreaks or when patients or professionals fly in from regions were measles transmission is present, as illustrated by our second case.…”

Seroprevalence of measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella amongphysicians and nurses in Jordan

“…There was no significant difference in immunity between the physician and nurse groups except for mumps, where more nurses (94.2%) than physicians (88.5%) (P = 0.025) were immune, which could be due to the older age of participating nurses. The finding that immunity to measles and mumps increases with age has been previously reported and was attributed to the possible low uptake of vaccine and the low exposure among the young age group (7,(20)(21)(22)(23)). This explanation is further supported herein by finding significantly more immunity in participants born before the introduction of the measles vaccine in 1982 than in those born later.…”

“…Measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella remain potential risks for transmission in healthcare settings. A healthcare worker (HCW) who lacks immunity is at high risk for contracting the disease, for complications, and for transmitting the infection to susceptible patients (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8).…”

Diagnostic challenges and pockets of susceptibility identified during a measles outbreak, Luxembourg, 2019

“…The outbreak did, however, also identify shortcomings concerning the quarantining of cases and the lack of data on vaccine uptake after the DIS encouraged vaccination and offered it free of charge. Like in other reports [ 21 , 22 ], some healthcare workers were affected during the Luxembourg outbreak, although all of them were fully vaccinated against measles. No onward transmission was noticed, which considerably facilitated outbreak control.…”