Abstract
Since October 2008, a total of 143 cases of rubella have affected the two Austrian provinces Styria and Burgenland. The index case occurred in mid-October 2008, but was not notified to the public health authorities until February 2009, when the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety was asked to investigate a cluster of 32 rubella cases (24 laboratory-confirmed and eight clinically suspected cases). No case of rubella had been reported in the two affected provinces between February 2007 - when statutory notification for rubella was implemented - and mid-October 2008. 113 of the 143 cases (79%) were confirmed: 101 (89.3% of the 113 cases) clinical-laboratory confirmed and 12 clinical-epidemiological confirmed. Thirty cases fulfilled the criteria of a probable outbreak case only (laboratory results or data on epidemiological link are pending). For 140 outbreak cases data on age was known; the median age was 19 years (range: 2-60 years). 20 cases occurred in soldiers in seven military camps in the area. 55 cases (38.5 %) were female. One case of a laboratory-confirmed rubella infection, affecting an unvaccinated pregnant 18-years old native Austrian in the early first trimenon of pregnancy, led to voluntary abortion
Highlights
In Austria, rubella has been a notifiable disease since 2007
A two-dose measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination programme was launched nationwide in 1994; the two doses were given at the ages of 14-18 months and six years
A confirmed outbreak case was defined (1) as a patient with a febrile generalised rash illness of acute onset, (2) who fulfilled one of the criteria of a laboratory-confirmed rubella infection or who was epidemiologically linked to a patient with laboratory-confirmed rubella infection, and (3) who fell sick after 15 October in the Austrian provinces Styria or Burgenland
Summary
In Austria, rubella has been a notifiable disease since 2007. In the pre-vaccination aera, rubella was endemic in Austria, with large epidemics occurring every few years. Rubella vaccination was introduced in 1984 with a monocomponent vaccine targeting 11-13 year-old girls and seronegative mothers after delivery. A two-dose measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination programme was launched nationwide in 1994; the two doses were given at the ages of 14-18 months and six years. From 2001 until the end of 2008 the vaccine Priorix® (GlaxoSmithKline) was used; as of 2003, the vaccination scheme was changed and the second dose was given already four weeks after the first dose. The available nationwide data on the proportion of rubella susceptibles in the Austrian population by age-group and sex are limited
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