Measles outbreak, Montenegro January–July 2018: Lessons learned

Abstract

In 2017, the Regional Verification Commission for Measles and Rubella Elimination (RVC) of the World Health Organization confirmed that measles elimination was sustained in Montenegro, and the previous endemic transmission remained interrupted. However, the RVC was extremely concerned over the continuing low vaccination coverage reported for this country. In this study, we describe the most recent measles epidemic in Montenegro using the epidemiological data collected from January 1 to July 31, 2018. The outbreak is largely attributable to a dangerous accumulation of susceptible subjects across the country and represents a high-risk factor for re-establishing endemic transmission in the Balkan area. This study showed how a vaccine-preventable communicable disease outbreak can have a dramatic impact and severe consequences on regional public health system performance in terms of the sanitary spending point of view. A detailed update is provided on the epidemiological situation in this Central European area, not available until now.