Situation Summary
Between epidemiological week (EW) 1 and EW 9 of 2019, ten countries in the Region of the Americas have reported confirmed cases occurring between December 2018 and February 2019: Argentina, the Bahamas, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, the United States of America, and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. No fatal cases have been reported in 2019.
In 2018, there were 12 countries in the Region of the Americas that reported confirmed measles cases, and only two of these countries reported fatal cases: Brazil and Venezuela.
The following is an update of the epidemiological situation in the countries that have reported confirmed cases in 2019.
Argentina reported a confirmed imported measles case, in a 35-year-old male resident of Rosario city, Santa Fe Province, with no known vaccination history. Rash onset was on 17 February after having returned to Argentina on 5 February from a business trip to Hong Kong,
Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People’s Republic of China.
Laboratory tests conducted by the National Reference Laboratory for urine samples and nasopharyngeal swabs were positive for measles by the qRT-PCR technique. Genotyping identified genotype B3. Sequence data has been compared with those available in the MeaNS database; however, no similar sequence was found, which suggests that the strain is recently circulating.
Included in the measures implemented by national authorities upon case detection are contact tracing and control measures (administration of vaccine or gamma globulin).
Currently, the follow-up of contacts continues.
The Bahamas reported a confirmed imported case of measles. The case is a 4-year-old male child with no history of vaccination who was visiting from France and arrived in the Bahamas on 10 February 2019 while en route to a privately-owned island. Rash onset was on 18 February 2019, and the same day, the child sought medical attention with his parents. On 21 February 2019, the serum samples tested at an international laboratory were IgM-positive for measles.
In Brazil, between EW 6 of 2018 and EW 9 of 2019, there were 10,334 confirmed cases reported (Figure 1), including 12 deaths. Since the 18 January 2019 PAHO/WHO Epidemiological Update on Measles2, an additional 60 confirmed cases were reported.
There are 11 federal units that have reported confirmed measles cases: Amazonas (9,804 cases, 6 deaths), Bahía (3 cases), the Federal District (1 case), Pará (87 cases, 2 deaths), Pernambuco (4 cases), Rio Grande do Sul (46 cases), Rio de Janeiro (19 cases), Rondônia (2 cases), Roraima (361 cases, 4 deaths), São Paulo (3 cases), and Sergipe (4 cases). For all of the federal units reporting cases, with the exception of one case in Rio Grande do Sul and one in São Paulo, genotype D8 lineage MVi/HuluLangat.MYS/26.11 was identified, similar to that circulating in Venezuela and other countries in the Region.
The most recent confirmed cases imported from Venezuela had rash onset in EW 7 of 2019 and were reported in Pará State.