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. 2023 Aug;28(35):2300423.
doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2023.28.35.2300423.

Ongoing measles outbreaks in Romania, March 2023 to August 2023

Mihaela Lazar  1 , Cătălina Pascu  1 , Maria Roșca  2 , Aurora Stănescu  2
Affiliations

Ongoing measles outbreaks in Romania, March 2023 to August 2023

Mihaela Lazar et al. Euro Surveill. 2023 Aug.

Abstract

Measles cases have recently been increasing in Romania, with 460 confirmed cases by August 2023. From March 2023, measles cases increased, and outbreaks were recorded in Cluj, Bistrita Nasaud, Sibiu and Mures counties. New D8 virus variants were identified, different from the variants detected in Romania before the COVID-19 pandemic. We here provide epidemiological and molecular data on the current increase in measles cases in the context of the measles elimination process in the World Health Organization European Region.

Keywords: MMR; Romania; immunisation; measles; outbreak.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Possible and confirmed measles cases by month, Romania, October 2022–July 2023 (n = 580)
Figure 2
Figure 2
Age distribution of confirmed measles cases by month, Romania, October 2022–July 2023 (n = 460)
Figure 3
Figure 3
Geographical distribution of confirmed measles cases, Romania, October 2022–July 2023 (n = 460)
Figure 4
Figure 4
Phylogenetic relationship between representative measles strains of genotype D8, Romania, 2023 outbreak, compared with historical sequences (n = 20)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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