Sweden declares Urkult measles outbreak over after 40 cases

The measles outbreak linked to Sweden’s Urkult festival is over after 40 confirmed cases. No new cases have been reported since early September.

The Public Health Agency announced the end of the outbreak on Wednesday, after two further incubation periods had elapsed beyond the window for infections acquired at the festival in Västernorrland.

Twenty-eight people caught the infection at the festival. Most cases involved school-age children and young adults, and most of those infected were unvaccinated. Contact tracing identified an initial case infected abroad.

The agency credited regional contact tracing and vaccination work with stopping the outbreak. It said high population immunity through childhood vaccination helped limit further transmission.

Samples from all the outbreak cases were analysed and found to contain the same virus type.

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