Role of clinicians and public health professionals for measles surveillance in Canada.

The current strategy to eliminate measles in Canada requires stringent surveillance efforts including the laboratory confirmation of measles cases. Clinicians and public health professionals are involved with the events and actions surrounding the initial contact with suspected measles cases, identification of suspected measles cases, collection of the appropriate clinical information, collection of samples for laboratory confirmation and notification of the appropriate public health authority. Clinical information is necessary for the interpretation of laboratory results and is used, together with the laboratory results, to confirm measles cases. Important clinical information required includes the date of onset of symptoms, date of sample collection and measles vaccination history. A blood sample and specimen for virus isolation (urine or nasopharyngeal or throat swab) should be collected within several days of the onset of the rash. In the laboratory, blood samples are necessary for serological confirmation of measles infection, and specimens for virus isolation are necessary for molecular epidemiological purposes.