BMJ 2000;320:1408 ( 20 May )

Letters

Incidence of congenital rubella in Greece has decreased

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR---In their paper on the increase in congenital rubella occurring after immunisation in Greece, Panagiotopoulos et al used information that covered the period only until 1995.1 Since then the surveillance of rubella and immunisation policies have changed. In 1998 the National Center for Surveillance and Intervention was established and a new computerised surveillance system was introduced.

In September 1998 an outbreak of rubella was detected in army camps; it peaked in January 1999. Altogether 1174 cases were reported among unvaccinated male recruits aged 18-22 years. In January 1999 the outbreak spread to the community and an additional 1306 cases were reported. Related cases in other European countries were also reported.2 The average age of cases was 17.12 (SD 5.5) years; 96% of cases occurred among people who had not been vaccinated, and 60% of cases occurred among men. Four confirmed cases of congenital rubella syndrome were reported after the outbreak.

Although there continue to be outbreaks, . . . [Full text of this article]
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This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Panagiotopoulos, T., Antoniadou, I., Valassi-Adam, E. (2000). Incidence of congenital rubella in Greece. BMJ 321: 1287-1287 [Full text]  
  • Tookey, P., Molyneaux, P., Helms, P. (2000). UK case of congenital rubella can be linked to Greek cases. BMJ 321: 766-766 [Full text]  

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