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Unprotected People Reports: Measles |
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Measles Outbreak Associated with an Unvaccinated Population |
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| Click here for a fully-formatted PDF version
of this report. |
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| Although the information in an article entitled,
"An Outbreak of Measles Associated with an Unvaccinated Population," is two
years old, it highlights the timeless fact that members of unvaccinated communities, such
as the religious community in which this outbreak occurred, continue to be victims of
vaccine-preventable diseases. This Minnesota story on a measles outbreak
appeared in the February/March 1996 issue of the Minnesota Department of Health's
"Disease Control Newsletter." Shortly after the outbreak, most of the
unvaccinated children and young adults in this religious community consequently chose to
receive two doses of MMR vaccine. The "Outbreak Summary" of the article
is reprinted here in its entirety: |
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Outbreak Summary
In early 1996, two measles cases were
reported to the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH). After a major resurgence of measles
both nationally and in Minnesota during 1988-1991, Minnesota had been measles-free since
July 1992. During the course of the 1996 case investigations, additional cases that had gone undetected by the medical community were identified with rash onsets dating back to
December 6, 1995. During this outbreak, 14 laboratory- confirmed cases and 13 probable
cases were reported to MDH. Of the 27 cases, two were Wisconsin residents. The last known
rash onset was January 29, 1996. The majority of cases (17, 63%) occurred in persons 20-29
years of age, three were over 30 years of age, six were 10-19 years of age, and one case
was an 18- month-old child. All but one of the cases were associated with a religious
community whose members live in the St. Paul area and operate a community school. It is
not clear how the virus entered this community. Of the 25 Minnesota residents, 22 had not received vaccination against measles. One (an 18-month-old infant) had a documented
history of receiving measles-mumps- rubella (MMR) vaccine; one (a 25-year-old) had a
probable vaccination history; and for one (a 35-year-old), the vaccination history remains
unknown. "Many of the children and young adults (70%)
in the religious community had not been immunized before onset of this outbreak; most have
since received two doses of MMR. Two of the laboratory-confirmed cases
occurred outside the religious community in a 35-year-old receptionist at a
medical clinic where one of the cases had been treated, and in a 44-year-old
woman residing in Hennepin County. This second case had no apparent
association or exposure to the religious community.
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| 1/12/99 • REPORT #11 |
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| Disclaimer: The Immunization Action Coalition (IAC) publishes
Unprotected People Reports for the purpose of making them available
for our readers' review. We have not verified the content of this
report. |
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