Measles and rubella monitoring, April 2014
Measles and rubella are targeted for elimination in Europe by 2015. ECDC closely monitors progress towards interruption of endemic transmission of both diseases through enhanced surveillance and epidemic intelligence. Measles and rubella vaccinations are routinely delivered as trivalent measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine in Europe, and the first of the two recommended doses is normally given during the second year of life.
Executive Summary
EU/EEA countries continue to report cases of measles and rubella each month. During the most recent 12-month period (April 2013 to March 2014), the 30 EU/EEA countries conducting measles surveillance reported 9 579 cases. Germany reported rubella data for the first time as it is now a notifiable disease in Germany.
Measles
In ten countries, the measles notification rate was less than one case per million population during the last 12 months. Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania and the United Kingdom accounted for 90.2% of the measles cases in this period. Since the previous bulletin, several outbreaks have been detected in EU Member States: Spain, Latvia, Ireland, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Denmark and Italy. Several of the outbreaks in Europe have a serological and epidemiological link to the large ongoing outbreak in the Philippines. Three measles-related deaths were reported during the period, and five cases were complicated by acute measles encephalitis.
Rubella
Twenty-eight EU/EEA countries reported 30 743 rubella cases over April 2013 to March 2014. Poland accounted for 99.2% of all reported rubella cases in the 12-month period, including 911 in March 2014. Germany, who has now started reporting data to TESSy (The European Surveillance System), reported 46 cases of rubella in 2014. In 16 countries the rubella notification rate was less than one case per million population during the last 12 months. No new outbreaks have been detected by epidemic intelligence since the last report.
