Measles outbreak - Southwestern Utah, 1996

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, August 22, 1997

In Utah, the school requirement for two doses of an MCV covered grades K-4 and probably prevented measles transmission among children in those grades. The potential impact of a second dose of an MCV is illustrated by the occurrence of only one case among recipients of two doses in the Utah outbreak and the estimated 100% vaccine effectiveness among two-dose recipients in the high school based on the vaccine effectiveness study. The vaccination campaign in southwestern Utah rapidly improved two-dose MMR coverage and may have helped to control the outbreak. During measles outbreaks in schools, coverage with two doses of MMR should be accelerated in school populations.

The national goal for measles vaccination is that all school-aged children will have received two doses of an MCV by 2001 [7]. in June 1997, the Vaccines for Children (VFC) program, a national program making federally purchased vaccines available at no cost to health-care providers for administration to eligible children, began covering the cost of a second dose of MMR for VFC-eligible children in every grade. Full coverage with the second dose of MMR for all schoolchildren is needed to assure the elimination of measles in the United States.

(*) Person aged [is greater than or equal to] 12 months born during or after 1957.

References

[1.] CDC. General recommendations on immunization: recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). MMWR 1994;43(no. RR-1):10.

[2.] Orenstein WA, Bernier RH, Hinman AR. Assessing vaccine efficacy in the field: further observations. Epidemiol Rev 1988;10:212-41.

[3.] CDC. Measles -- United States, 1996, and the interruption of indigenous transmission. MMWR 1997;46:242-6.

[4.] CDC. Measles outbreak among school-aged children -- Juneau, Alaska, 1996. MMWR 1996;45: 777-80.

[5.] Gustafson TL, Lievens AW, Brunell PA, Moellenberg RG, Buttery CM, Sehulster LM. Measles outbreak in a fully immunized secondary-school population. N Engl J Med 1987;316:771-4.

[6.] Markowitz LE, Preblud SR, Orenstein WA, et al. Patterns of transmission in measies outbreaks in the United States, 1985-1986. N Engl J Med 1989;320:75-81.

[7.] American Academy of Pediatrics. Measles. In: Peter G, ed. 1997 Red book: report of the Committee on Infectious Diseases. 24th ed. Elk Grove Village, illinois: American Academy of Pediatrics, 1997:344-57.