Key Points

• Between January 1 and December 31, 2020, 240 cases of measles were reported (compared to 2,636 cases in 2019), representing a case rate of 0.36 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, with the highest rate observed among children under 1 year of age: 5.3 cases per 100,000.

• 72 cases were hospitalized (30%), including 3 in intensive care (1.3%).

• 23 cases (9.5%) had pneumonia (including 19 who were hospitalized). No cases of encephalitis or deaths were reported.

• Among the population targeted by vaccination recommendations, nearly 89% of measles cases occurred in unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated individuals.

• Virus circulation was limited to one-third of the country (34 departments), with mostly sporadic cases, except in six departments (67, 74, 01, 59, 33, 93), where outbreaks were observed during the first quarter, primarily within traveling communities. The CNR was able to perform genotyping on 42 cases, identifying primarily genotype D8 (40 cases), with the other two cases attributed to genotype B3.

• Like most European countries, France recorded a rapid decline in the number of reported cases starting in April 2020, followed by virtually no viral circulation. This situation, which continued throughout the first quarter of 2021, is very likely linked to the measures implemented to combat the COVID-19 epidemic, including the lockdown imposed in France between March and May 2020, and the continuation of these measures (hygiene measures, mask-wearing, social distancing, curfews, etc.) having an effect on the transmission of other respiratory pathogens.