[Ten years of measles epidemiological surveillance in France through a network of sentinel physicians]

In France, the sentinel general practitioners of the French Communicable Diseases Network (FCDN) monitor the epidemiological surveillance of eight communicable diseases, including measles. For the last 10 years, this surveillance has shown a seasonality of the annual incidence of measles (with peaks in late spring) and a decrease in incidence since the last outbreaks in 1986 and 1987. This decrease, the increasing mean age of the cases and an increase in the percentage of appropriately vaccinated cases are due to the increasing vaccination coverage of children due to the national immunization programme was reinforced in 1989. However, with 75,000 cases in 1993, measles is far from being a rare disease in France; epidemiological surveillance and improved vaccination coverage are still necessary.