Challenges for Laboratory Diagnosis of Measles in Measles Eliminaion Phase

DOI: 10.6525/TEB.20160426.32(8).001

Wen-Yueh Cheng^＊, Ming-Tsan Liu

2016 Vol.32 NO.8

Correspondence Author： Wen-Yueh Cheng^＊

Abstract：

Measles is a highly contagious disease. The number of measles cases in Taiwan decreased significantly after the national routine immunization program has been launched since 1978. Most of the cases confirmed after year 2000 were unvaccinated with measles-containing vaccine. In a 2002 school outbreak, some measles vaccinated cases developed milder symptoms, and had different levels of antibodies compared with classic measles cases. In addition to serological tests, the new molecular method can detect virus gene rapidly from clinical specimens, although challenges remains given the variable viral loads, divergent measles viruses sequences, and seropositivity in measles-vaccinated persons with atypical presentations. We summarized laboratory investigations of reported measles cases after 2005 in Taiwan.