Measles Transmission in Health Facilities during Outbreaks

BackgroundConsultation waiting rooms and similar medical settings, either public or private, are places where children have higher probability of acquiring some infectious diseases, especially during outbreaks. MethodsDuring a measles outbreak which occurred in Lisbon in 1989 a case-control study was carried out in a major paediatric hospital to estimate the risk of measles infection associated with the exposure in medical settings. The statistical analysis was performed with data matched on age, using conditional logistic regression, to reach a multivariate model which explains the risk in the presence of the main variables of interest. ResultsThe crude odds ratio (OR), based upon 72 cases and 216 controls, in children younger than 12 years, was 4.1 (P