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Spread of measles virus D4-Hamburg, Europe, 2008-2011.

ABSTRACT: A new strain of measles virus, D4-Hamburg, was imported from London to Hamburg in December 2008 and subsequently spread to Bulgaria, where an outbreak of >24,300 cases was observed. We analyzed spread of the virus to demonstrate the importance of addressing hard-to-reach communities within the World Health Organization European Region regarding access to medical care and vaccination campaigns. The D4-Hamburg strain appeared during 2009-2011 in Poland, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Austria, Greece, Romania, Turkey, Macedonia, Serbia, Switzerland, and Belgium and was repeatedly reimported to Germany. The strain was present in Europe for >27 months and led to >25,000 cases in 12 countries. Spread of the virus was prevalently but not exclusively associated with travel by persons in the Roma ethnic group; because this travel extends beyond the borders of any European country, measures to prevent the spread of measles should be implemented by the region as a whole.

SUBMITTER: Mankertz A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3381563 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Spread of measles virus D4-Hamburg, Europe, 2008-2011.

Mankertz Annette A Mihneva Zefira Z Gold Hermann H Baumgarte Sigrid S Baillot Armin A Helble Rudolph R Roggendorf Hedwig H Bosevska Golubinka G Nedeljkovic Jasminka J Makowka Agata A Hutse Veronik V Holzmann Heidemarie H Aberle Stefan W SW Cordey Samuel S Necula Gheorghe G Mentis Andreas A Korukluoğlu Gulay G Carr Michael M Brown Kevin E KE Hübschen Judith M JM Muller Claude P CP Mulders Mick N MN Santibanez Sabine S

Emerging infectious diseases 20110801 8

A new strain of measles virus, D4-Hamburg, was imported from London to Hamburg in December 2008 and subsequently spread to Bulgaria, where an outbreak of >24,300 cases was observed. We analyzed spread of the virus to demonstrate the importance of addressing hard-to-reach communities within the World Health Organization European Region regarding access to medical care and vaccination campaigns. The D4-Hamburg strain appeared during 2009-2011 in Poland, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Austria, Greece, ...[more]

PMID: 21801615

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Dataset Information

Spread of measles virus D4-Hamburg, Europe, 2008-2011.

Publications

Spread of measles virus D4-Hamburg, Europe, 2008-2011.

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