Key Points

• Between January 1 and December 31, 2021, 16 cases of measles, including 5 imported cases, were reported in France (compared to 240 and 2,636 cases in 2020 and 2019, respectively).

• The reporting rate is 0.02 cases per 100,000 inhabitants (excluding imported cases), with the highest rate observed among children under 1 year of age: 0.43 cases per 100,000.

• Three cases were hospitalized, none in the intensive care unit.

• Two cases presented with pneumonia; none with encephalitis. No deaths occurred.

• Among the 9 locally acquired cases targeted by vaccination (aged ≥ 1 year and born since 1980), only one case, a 26-year-old, had received 2 doses of vaccine; the other cases were unvaccinated or had received only one dose of vaccine (n= 2).

• Only 5 departments reported cases. Two cases originating from Brazil were imported into French Guiana, each generating one secondary case. Two cases imported from Mali and one case imported from the Democratic Republic of the Congo did not result in any secondary cases.

• The CNR was able to perform genotyping on 8 cases, identifying genotype D8 in 6 cases (including those imported from Brazil and the DRC), and B3 (2 cases imported from Mali, from the same sibling pair).

• Like most European countries, France recorded a significant decrease in the number of reported cases starting in April 2020, followed by virtually no viral circulation. This situation continued into 2021 and persists through the first quarter of 2022, most likely due in part to improved vaccination coverage with two doses of MMR in infants, but also with the measures implemented to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, including the lockdown imposed in France between March and May 2020, and the continuation of these measures (hygiene practices, mask-wearing, social distancing, curfews, etc.), which have an impact on the transmission of other respiratory pathogens.