MMWR

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report

Outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes Infections Associated with Pasteurized Milk from a Local Dairy – Massachusetts, 2007

PRESS CONTACT: Donna Rheaume
Massachusetts Department of Public Health
(617) 624-5006

This was a very unusual outbreak. It is hoped that lessons learned from this situation may lead to changes that will prevent a similar outbreak from occurring again. While listeriosis outbreaks are uncommon, when they occur, they are very serious. Detection of foodborne outbreaks like this one is often difficult, but with the use of currently available laboratory methods for DNA fingerprinting, even unusual sources of infection, like pasteurized milk can be uncovered. Detecting the source of infection in cases such as this leads to the prevention of additional cases of disease and can ultimately lead to food processing changes that produce a safer food supply.

National Vaccination Coverage Among Adolescents Aged 13-17 – United States, 2007

PRESS CONTACT: National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention
(404) 639-8895

• Nation′s Teen Vaccination Coverage Increasing, But Below 2010 Goals

There are substantial increases in coverage with new adolescent vaccines. We need to continue to build awareness of the vaccination recommendations among parents and healthcare providers to increase coverage rates among adolescents. CDC conducts the National Immunization Survey–Teen (NIS–Teen) to determine vaccination coverage estimates in a national sample of adolescents aged 13–17 years. Three new vaccines have been recommended for adolescents since 2005: meningococcal conjugate vaccine (MCV4), tetanus, diphtheria, acellular pertussis vaccine (Tdap), and human papillomavirus vaccine (HPV4). Adolescents should also receive childhood vaccinations that were missed. Between 2006 and 2007, there were substantial increases in receipt of new adolescent vaccinations including Tdap (from 10.8 percent to 30.4 percent) and MCV4 (from 11.7 percent to 32.4 percent), and increases in coverage of childhood vaccinations including measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR), hepatitis B, and varicella vaccines (among those without prior disease history). For HPV4 coverage, which is reported for the first time, 25.1 percent of adolescent females had initiated the vaccine series (≥1 dose). To improve vaccination coverage among adolescents, providers should take advantage of every health care visit as an opportunity to evaluate vaccination status and administer vaccines when needed.

Updated Recommendation for Isolation of Persons with Mumps

PRESS CONTACT: Division of Media Relations
(404) 639-3286

The CDC, AAP and HICPAC now recommend a 5 day period after onset of parotitis, non-suppurative swelling and tenderness of the parotid gland, either unilateral or bilateral, for 1) isolation of persons with mumps in either community or health-care settings and 2) use of standard and droplet precautions. The best strategy for preventing mumps in both the community and among health care workers is to promote high levels of immunity via vaccination. National recommendations concerning the isolation for person with mumps for 9 days conflicted with other guidance that the infectious period of mumps extended through the 4th day after parotitis and resulted in confusion during the 2006 mumps resurgence in the US with respect to the appropriate length of case isolation. To address this issue, researchers at the CDC and American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) reviewed scientific evidence underlying the 9-day isolation recommendation including published articles on mumps transmission; viral isolation, detection and load; and mumps in healthcare settings and, as a result, in 2007, revised the recommended isolation period for community and healthcare workers in ambulatory settings to 5 days. In February 2008, the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee approved a similar recommendation in in-patient settings. The evidence reviewed suggested that isolation of mumps virus is highest before or around the time of onset of parotitis, with the rate of mumps virus isolation and viral load declining rapidly during the 3 to 5 days following onset of parotitis. The risk of mumps transmission is considered to be low after 5 days; most transmission likely occurs before symptom onset or within the subsequent 5 days.

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES