Objective: An outbreak of measles occurred from 2005 to 2006 in Mayotte, a French territory in the Indian Ocean. The aim of this study was to describe the outbreak, to analyze epidemiologic and sociodemographic characteristic of cases, and to suggest recommendations for measles surveillance and preventive measures in Mayotte.
Design: An outbreak investigation was conducted and an enhanced passive surveillance system of incident cases was implemented.
Results: During the outbreak, 1269 clinical cases, including 156 (12.3%) biologically confirmed cases, were reported. The attack rate was 0.71% and no death due to measles was recorded. The median age of cases was 12 years and the M/F sex-ratio 1.1. Teenagers and young adults (10-19 years) were the most frequently affected (44.4%) and infants less than one year of age accounted for 21.6% of the cases. In the 1269 clinical cases, 27.3% of patients had received at least one dose of measles vaccine before the outbreak. The immunization coverage in school children reached 59.1% at the end of the vaccination campaign.
Conclusion: In the future, this vaccinal coverage should be improved to prevent other outbreaks, especially in vulnerable groups like immigrants. A surveillance system with systematical report of the biologically confirmed cases is needed in Mayotte.