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The Junta de Andalucía's Ministry of Health has activated the surveillance and alert protocol for measles after an outbreak of the disease was detected in a Costa del Sol nursery, the name of which has not yet been revealed.
According to sources, the disease has been detected in three children. Two of them are twin brothers, 24 months, while the third is 14 months old. As all three are from the same day care centre, health officials believe that there has been transmission between them. The nationality of the three youngsters is not known at this stage.
The protocol assesses the situation as an outbreak, given that all three cases originated in the same nursery. Tests are being carried out in a laboratory, at the same time as an epidemiological investigation is working to detect the possible source. What is confirmed is that none of the three children had the MMR vaccine, which protects against the virus.
Contact study
In the meantime, control measures on cases and contacts are being carried out in accordance with the measles surveillance and alert protocol. Measles is a highly contagious disease and it is therefore essential to quickly establish a contact study to determine both the source of infection and the number of people the case might have infected. "Contact-tracing will be carried out among all persons that might have been exposed to a suspected case during the contagious period (from 4 days before the onset of the rash to 4 days after, including the day of rash onset)," states the protocol. In addition, vaccination history will be investigated "as accurately as possible".
If the contact study identifies susceptible individuals who are unable or unwilling to receive the vaccine, they will be removed from the environment where the case was confirmed and put under quarantine until the end of the incubation period (up to 23 days since exposure). This step of the protocol is relevant in the present case, as the three affected individuals were not vaccinated. These contacts will be monitored for 23 days following their last interaction with a confirmed case.
As the protocol states, what significantly improves the likelihood of preventing the spread of the disease or mitigating the severity, is rapid vaccination (within 72 hours of exposure) of susceptible contacts. "Vaccination should always be offered to susceptible contacts to prevent measles transmission, especially when there is an outbreak, regardless of the time that has elapsed since exposure, to prevent measles," officials have said.
Outbreak in the Basque Country
Another outbreak of measles was detected in Spain in January, but this time in the Basque Country. The local health department reported that the disease had been identified in 12 people in the city of Biscay on 16 January. According to the El Correo newspaper, another 27 individuals were detected in the following two weeks.
The outbreak in Biscay has mostly affected "young adults, between 25-45 years of age, citizens of foreign origin and healthcare workers". Among those cases are professionals who tended to the first infected people at the Osakidetza health centre. One of the latest cases of infection involved a girl who is a direct relative of one of the cases that had already been identified at the beginning of January. The recovery of all affected individuals is favourable. However, the situation is being closely analysed due to the number of cases.
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