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Case Reports
. 2016 Nov 3;21(44):30390.
doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2016.21.44.30390.

Summer music and arts festivals as hot spots for measles transmission: experience from England and Wales, June to October 2016

Olivier le Polain de Waroux  1 , Vanessa Saliba  2 , Simon Cottrell  3 , Nick Young  4 , Malorie Perry  3 , Antoaneta Bukasa  2 , Mary Ramsay  2 , Kevin Brown  5 , Gayatri Amirthalingam  2
Affiliations
Case Reports

Summer music and arts festivals as hot spots for measles transmission: experience from England and Wales, June to October 2016

Olivier le Polain de Waroux et al. Euro Surveill. .

Abstract

We report 52 cases of measles linked to music and arts festivals in England and Wales, between mid-June and mid-October 2016. Nearly half were aged 15 to 19 years. Several individuals who acquired measles at one festival subsequently attended another festival while infectious, resulting in multiple interlinked outbreaks. Transmission within festivals resulted in a geographical spread of cases nationally as well as internationally, which presents particular challenges for measles control.

Keywords: Europe; United Kingdom; airborne infections; epidemiology; mass gatherings; measles; measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine; outbreaks; vaccines and immunisation; viral infections.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Geographical distribution of index measles cases (right panel), secondary cases (left panel), and festivals (both panels) in England and Wales, 15 June–15 October 2016 (n=52 measles cases)
Figure 2
Figure 2
Date of onset of rash for each measles case, in relation to the timeline of the festival(s) cases were linked to, England and Wales, 15 June–15 October 2016 (n=52 cases)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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