Measles outbreak in a refugee settlement in Calais, France: January to February 2016

• Published in: Euro surveillance : bulletin européen sur les maladies transmissibles Vol. 21; no. 11; p. 30167
• Main Authors: Jones, G, Haeghebaert, S, Merlin, B, Antona, D, Simon, N, Elmouden, M, Battist, F, Janssens, M, Wyndels, K, Chaud, P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sweden Centre Europeen pour la Surveillance Epidemiologique du SIDA (European Centre for the Epidemiological Monitoring of AIDS) 17-03-2016
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Child; Disease Notification; Disease Outbreaks - prevention & control; Epidemics; Female; France - epidemiology; Health Personnel; Humans; Immunization; Male; Measles; Measles - diagnosis; Measles - epidemiology; Measles - prevention & control; Measles Vaccine - administration & dosage; Medical personnel; Middle Aged; Refugees; Risk Assessment - methods; Vaccination; Young Adult; France; Calais France; air-borne infections; epidemiology; viral infections; outbreaks; France; measles
• ISSN: 1560-7917; 1025-496X; 1560-7917
• DOI: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2016.21.11.30167

We report a measles outbreak in a refugee settlement in Calais, France, between 5 January and 11 February 2016. In total, 13 confirmed measles cases were identified among migrants, healthcare workers in hospital and volunteers working on site. A large scale vaccination campaign was carried out in the settlement within two weeks of outbreak notification. In total, 60% of the estimated target population of 3,500 refugees was vaccinated during the week-long campaign.