National measles guidelines
How to manage cases of suspected measles: what patient details to take, who to notify and assessing risk of disease spreading in close contacts.
- From:
- UK Health Security Agency
- Published
- 28 October 2010
- Last updated
-
252JulyApril20242026 — See all updates
Applies to England
Documents
National measles guidelines
Ref: UKHSA publication gateway number GOV-16999
PDF, 9391.26 KBMB, 6062 pages
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Measles warn and inform letter
Ref: UKHSA publication gateway number GOV-16113
ODT, 32.5 KB
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Measles factsheet
HTML
Measles easy read warn and inform letter
PDF, 4.31 MB, 12 pages
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Measles easy read factsheet
PDF, 3.11 MB, 10 pages
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Details
The national measles guidelines for health professionals covers:
- how to decide if a suspected case of measles is ‘likely’ or ‘unlikely’
- case management – what lab tests should be done and the importance of oral fluid testing on all suspected cases
- measles control – identifying vulnerable contacts and assessing their need for post-exposure prophylaxis
As detailed in the guidance, the measles warn and inform letter can be used where it is necessary to contact a number of people who have been potentially exposed to a case of measles – please see the guidelines for further information about this.
The measles factsheet can be given to individuals to give them information about:
- what measles is and how it spreads
- symptoms and complications of measles
- vaccination
- what to do if you have measles
Translations of warn and inform letters
These translated warn and inform letters open as Word documents.
- Albanian
- Amharic
- Arabic
- Bengali
- Cantonese
- Dari
- Farsi
- French
- Gujarati
- Hindi
- Italian
- Lithuanian
- Mandarin
- Nepali
- Pahari Pothwari
- Pashto
- Polish
- Portuguese
- Punjabi Shahmukhi
- Punjabi Gurmukhi
- Romanian
- Shona
- Slovak
- Somali
- Spanish
- Sylheti
- Tagalog
- Tamil
- Tigrinya
- Turkish
- Ukrainian
- Urdu
Translations of easy read warn and inform letters
These translated easy read warn and inform letters open as PDF documents.
- Arabic
- Bengali
- Dari
- Farsi
- Gujarati
- Mandarin
- Pashto
- Polish
- Portuguese
- Punjabi
- Romanian
- Somali
- Spanish
- Urdu
Translations of factsheets
These translated factsheets open as PDF documents.
Updates to this page
Published 28 October 2010
Last updated 252 JulyApril 2024
+ show2026
href="#full-history">+ show all updates
-
Sign up for emails or print this page
Update history
2026-04-02 09:30
Updated guidance to version 7 – see document for details.
2024-07-25 09:23
Guidance updated – see page 3 for change history.
2024-06-14 09:30
Added the translated easy read warn and inform letters.
2024-05-10 10:35
Added measles easy ready factsheet.
2024-04-11 16:12
Updated National measles guidelines – see page 3 for change history.
2024-03-20 14:18
Added the easy read warn and inform letter.
2024-03-08 16:12
Added translations of the warn and inform letters and factsheets.
2024-02-28 12:30
Clarification of responsibilities for risk assessment in healthcare settings page 37.Further product information added on immunoglobulin product, Cuvitru, page 35.
2024-02-16 15:11
Added factsheet and updated letter.
2024-02-01 14:11
Updated guidance see page 3 for change history.
2024-01-17 11:33
Updated guidance, including additional section on defining the time window for receiving post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP).
2023-10-27 11:12
Updated guidance.
Details
The national measles guidelines for health professionals covers:
- how to decide if a suspected case of measles is ‘likely’ or ‘unlikely’
- case management – what lab tests should be done and the importance of oral fluid testing on all suspected cases
- measles control – identifying vulnerable contacts and assessing their need for post-exposure prophylaxis
As detailed in the guidance, the measles warn and inform letter can be used where it is necessary to contact a number of people who have been potentially exposed to a case of measles – please see the guidelines for further information about this.
The measles factsheet can be given to individuals to give them information about:
- what measles is and how it spreads
- symptoms and complications of measles
- vaccination
- what to do if you have measles
Translations of warn and inform letters
These translated warn and inform letters open as Word documents.
- Albanian
- Amharic
- Arabic
- Bengali
- Cantonese
- Dari
- Farsi
- French
- Gujarati
- Hindi
- Italian
- Lithuanian
- Mandarin
- Nepali
- Pahari Pothwari
- Pashto
- Polish
- Portuguese
- Punjabi Shahmukhi
- Punjabi Gurmukhi
- Romanian
- Shona
- Slovak
- Somali
- Spanish
- Sylheti
- Tagalog
- Tamil
- Tigrinya
- Turkish
- Ukrainian
- Urdu
Translations of easy read warn and inform letters
These translated easy read warn and inform letters open as PDF documents.
- Arabic
- Bengali
- Dari
- Farsi
- Gujarati
- Mandarin
- Pashto
- Polish
- Portuguese
- Punjabi
- Romanian
- Somali
- Spanish
- Urdu
Translations of factsheets
These translated factsheets open as PDF documents.
Updates to this page
Sign up for emails or print this page
Update history
2026-04-02 09:30
Updated guidance to version 7 – see document for details.
2024-07-25 09:23
Guidance updated – see page 3 for change history.
2024-06-14 09:30
Added the translated easy read warn and inform letters.
2024-05-10 10:35
Added measles easy ready factsheet.
2024-04-11 16:12
Updated National measles guidelines – see page 3 for change history.
2024-03-20 14:18
Added the easy read warn and inform letter.
2024-03-08 16:12
Added translations of the warn and inform letters and factsheets.
2024-02-28 12:30
Clarification of responsibilities for risk assessment in healthcare settings page 37.Further product information added on immunoglobulin product, Cuvitru, page 35.
2024-02-16 15:11
Added factsheet and updated letter.
2024-02-01 14:11
Updated guidance see page 3 for change history.
2024-01-17 11:33
Updated guidance, including additional section on defining the time window for receiving post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP).
2023-10-27 11:12
Updated guidance.