Eurosurveillance, Volume
17, Issue
31,
02 August 2012
Letters
Authors’ reply: An ongoing large outbreak of measles in Merseyside, England, January to June 2012
R Vivancos (
)
1, A Keenan
1
- Cheshire and Merseyside Health Protection Unit, Health Protection Agency, Rail House, Lord Nelson Street, Liverpool, United Kingdom
Citation style for this article: Vivancos R, Keenan A. Authors’ reply: An ongoing large outbreak of measles in Merseyside, England, January to June 2012. Euro Surveill. 2012;17(31):pii=20234. Available online: http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=20234
Date of submission:
31 July 2012
To the editor: We would like to thank Dr Plans-Rubió for his comments regarding the reproductive number.
It has to be noted that measles is highly infectious and the low estimated reproductive number estimated is likely to be the result of the relatively high levels of vaccination in Merseyside over time [1]. However, the levels have been lower than the 95% recommended by the World Health Organisation needed to prevent outbreaks [2], leaving a pool of susceptible individuals within the population of Merseyside.
Therefore, as we have taken account of the immunised population in Merseyside, our estimate as rightly suggested by Dr Plans-Rubió represents an effective reproductive number (R) rather than the basic reproductive number (R0) for measles.
References
- Vivancos R, Keenan A, Farmer S, Atkinson J, Coffey E, Dardamissis E et al. An ongoing large outbreak of measles in Merseyside, England, January to June 2012. Eurosurveillance, Volume 17, Issue 29, 19 July 2012. Available from: http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=20226
- World Health Organisation (WHO). Strategic plan for measles and congenital rubella infection in the WHO European Region. Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe; 2003. Available from: http://www.euro.who.int/document/e81567.pdf
