Abstract
As part of the evaluation of the French plan for the elimination of measles and rubella, we conducted a seroprevalence survey in 2013, aimed at updating seroprevalence data for people 18-32 years old. A secondary objective was to estimate measles incidence in this population during the 2009-2011 outbreak, and thus estimate the exhaustiveness of measles mandatory reporting. We used a cross-sectional survey design, targeting blood donors 18-32 years old, living in France since 2009, who came to give blood in a blood collecting site. We included 4647 people in metropolitan France, 806 people in Réunion Island and 496 in the French Caribbean. A further 3942 individuals were interviewed in the south-east region of metropolitan France to estimate the exhaustiveness of measles mandatory reporting. One of the main findings of this survey is that the proportion of people 18-32 years old susceptible to both measles and rubella infections remained high in France in 2013, 9.2% and 5.4%, respectively, in metropolitan France, even after the promotion campaigns about vaccination catch-up during and following the major measles epidemic in 2009-2011. Applying our results to French census data would suggest that around 1 million people aged 18-32 years old are currently susceptible to measles in France, despite this age group being one of the vaccination targets of the national measles elimination plan. Another important finding is that only an estimated 45% of the true number of cases in this age group was actually notified, despite notification being mandatory.
Highlights
As part of the evaluation of the French plan for the elimination of measles and rubella, we conducted a seroprevalence survey in 2013, aimed at updating seroprevalence data for people 18–32 years old
In metropolitan France, questionnaires and blood samples were obtained from 4647 people
One of the main findings of this survey is that the proportions of people aged 18–32 years still susceptible to both measles and rubella infections remained high in France in 2013, even after the promotion of vaccination catch-up following the major measles epidemic in 2009–2011
Summary
As part of the evaluation of the French plan for the elimination of measles and rubella, we conducted a seroprevalence survey in 2013, aimed at updating seroprevalence data for people 18–32 years old. Applying our results to French census data would suggest that around 1 million people aged 18–32 years old are currently susceptible to measles in France, despite this age group being one of the vaccination targets of the national measles elimination plan. Despite the use of a combined measles-mumps-rubella vaccine (MMR) in the infant immunisation schedule for more than 30 years, France, as many other European countries, experienced a major measles outbreak in 2009–2011, clearly showing that the elimination goal was not yet reached During this outbreak, half of the cases were observed in young adults aged 20–29 years [5]. As part of the evaluation of the French elimination plan, we conducted a seroprevalence survey targeted at young adults This survey aimed at updating the seroprevalence data in people 18–32 years old, following the large 2011 measles outbreak and the subsequent measures implemented to increase VC. The second objective was to estimate measles incidence in this population during the 2009–2011 outbreak, and estimate the exhaustiveness of measles mandatory reporting
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