Imported Measles Case Induced Hospital Outbreak in Taichung A Hospital, 2009

Shao-Hui Tsai

2009 Vol.25 NO.4

Correspondence Author： Shao-Hui Tsai

Abstract：

On February 20, 2009, Hospital A in Taichung City reported an imported measles case. After following the cases of the 279 persons in contact, 2 cases of infection was discovered. After the Center for Research and Diagnostics confirmation, all three cases were diagnosed as confirmed cases of measles, with the same virus strain as H1 type. According to the investigation, the index case traveled with his parents to Hunan Province, China during the possible transmission period and was hospitalized twice there. Therefore, it is suspected that the origin of this incident came from China. The 2 contact cases that were infected were hospitalized at the time in Hospital A due to gastoenteritis and urinary tract infection. One of the contact cases was in the same room as the index case for thirty minutes whereas the other one were at the same emergency room and took the same vehicle when changing rooms. Therefore, this is an outbreak induced by an imported measles case. In order to prevent the spread of the disease and lower the number of vulnerable persons in Taiwan, the Centers for Disease Control has changed the MMR vaccine policy on April 1, 2009 to allow infants that are 12 months old to receive the first MMR vaccine shot in addition to elevating the average vaccine administration rate.