• Young June Choe, Jae Kyung Hu, Kyung Min Song, Heeyeon Cho, Hee Sook Yoon, Seung Tae Kim, Han Jung Lee, Kisoon Kim, Geun-Ryang Bae, and Jong-Koo Lee.
• Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Chungcheongbuk-do, Republic of Korea. choeyj@yahoo.com
• Jpn. J. Infect. Dis. 2012 Jan 1;65(5):371-5.

AbstractIn this study, we have described the clinical characteristics of vaccine-modified measles to assess the performance of an expanded case definition in a school outbreak that occurred in 2010. The sensitivity, specificity, and the positive and negative predictive values were evaluated. Among 74 cases of vaccine-modified measles, 47 (64%) met the original case definition. Fever and rash were observed in 73% (54/74); fever was the most common (96%, 71/74) presenting symptom, and rash was noted in 77% (57/74) of the cases. The original case definition showed an overall sensitivity of 63.5% and a specificity of 100.0%. The expanded case definition combining fever and rash showed a higher sensitivity (72.9%) but a lower specificity (88.2%) than the original. The presence of fever and one or more of cough, coryza, or conjunctivitis scored the highest sensitivity among the combinations of signs and symptoms (77.0%), but scored the lowest specificity (52.9%). The expanded case definition was sensitive in identifying suspected cases of vaccine-modified measles. We suggest using this expanded definition for outbreak investigation in a closed community, and consider further discussions on expanding the case definition of measles for routine surveillance in South Korea.

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