Notes From the Field: Measles Among U.S.-Bound Refugees From Malaysia-California, Maryland, North Carolina, and Wisconsin, August-September 2011

On Aug 26, 2011, California public health officials notified CDC of a suspected measles case in an unvaccinated male refugee aged 15 years from Burma (the index patient), who had lived in an urban area of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which is experiencing ongoing measles outbreaks. Currently, approximately 92,000 such refugees are living in urban communities in Malaysia. Resettlement programs in the United States and other countries are ongoing. Thirty-one refugees who traveled from Malaysia on the same flight with the index patient on Aug 24 arrived in the following seven states: Maryland, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin. State and local health departments and CDC were contacted and initiated contact investigations and response activities. As of Sep 12, contact investigations and heightened surveillance had revealed three additional laboratory-confirmed measles cases that were epidemiologically linked to the index patient.