Import-Associated Measles Outbreak--Indiana, May-June 2005

Abstract

On May 29, 2005, the Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH) was notified of suspected measles in a female Indiana resident aged 6 years who was hospitalized in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she had been visiting relatives. Serologic analyses performed by the Ohio State Department of Health Laboratory and a private reference laboratory confirmed the diagnosis of measles. The hospital in Cincinnati and the girl's parents told ISDH she had been at a church gathering in northwestern Indiana on May 15 where a fellow attendee had been ill. This fellow attendee was an adolescent girl aged 17 years, an Indiana resident who had not been vaccinated for measles and who had worked during May 4--14 as a missionary in an orphanage and hospital in Bucharest, Romania, where a large measles outbreak was subsequently reported. The teen had returned to the United States with prodromal fever, cough, conjunctivitis, and coryza, traveling on international and domestic commercial airliners on May 14. The next day the teen attended the church gathering along with others who had not been vaccinated because of nonmedical exemptions. Family members recalled that the teen had a rash on May 16; measles was diagnosed retrospectively, and the teen was identified as the index patient. An outbreak investigation was conducted by ISDH and CDC. This report summarizes 1) the results of that investigation, which identified 34 persons with measles, including three who required hospitalization, 2) the measures taken to control and prevent measles transmission, and 3) recommendations to prevent future cases of measles.