Sporadic cases of adult measles: a research article

Abstract

At least a 3-5 day delay in the diagnosis was observed (even after the appearance of the rash in some patients), due to non-awareness of its occurrence, unfamiliarity of measles in adults, non-specific nature of the illness and non-availability of rapid diagnostics, risking transmission to the immune-compromised or non-immune staff or patients. Identification of the source of infection in these sporadic adult cases and their virologic surveillance and molecular epidemiology will be important to interrupt the transmission and to achieve the targeted elimination of measles from Sri Lanka by 2020.