Vaccine-Preventable Disease Outbreaks Among Healthcare Workers: A Scoping Review
Clinical Infectious Diseases·
- DOI
- 10.1093/cid/ciae209
- PMID
- 38630638
- PMCID
- PMC11327795
- OpenAlex
- W4394868999
- Study type
- Journal article
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Article type
- journal-article
- Integrity
- current
Why this research matters now
Vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks among healthcare workers result in morbidity and mortality, disrupt healthcare services for patients and visitors, and impose additional burden on healthcare systems. The findings underscore the importance of vaccination among healthcare workers.
Structured evidence summary
Research question
This scoping review aimed to characterize the epidemiology of vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks among healthcare workers, focusing on diseases covered by the ten vaccines recommended by the World Health Organization for this occupational group.
Study design
Scoping review of literature published from 2000 through April 2022, searching four databases (CINAHL, MEDLINE, Global Health, EMBASE) without language or study-type restrictions. Articles reporting vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks in healthcare workers were included.
Population and setting
Healthcare workers experiencing outbreaks in hospitals and long-term care facilities. Most identified studies originated from high- and upper-middle-income countries, with 93% of the 216 included articles from these settings.
Main findings
The search identified 216 articles from 9363 records, describing outbreaks of six vaccine-preventable diseases: influenza, measles, varicella, tuberculosis, pertussis, and rubella. Most outbreaks occurred in hospitals, though several influenza outbreaks were reported in long-term-care facilities. Vaccination rates among healthcare workers were rarely documented in the available data.
Public-health relevance
Vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks among healthcare workers result in morbidity and mortality, disrupt healthcare services for patients and visitors, and impose additional burden on healthcare systems. The findings underscore the importance of vaccination among healthcare workers.
Important limitations
This summary is limited to the supplied single-article abstract and metadata and requires the original paper for decision-grade interpretation. The abstract notes that vaccination rates were rarely reported in the outbreak data, limiting assessment of vaccine coverage as a contributing factor.
GIDS interpretation
This scoping review synthesizes outbreak reports across six vaccine-preventable diseases in healthcare settings and may support contextual understanding of disease transmission patterns in occupational health contexts. The classifier links indicate associations with measles, tuberculosis, pertussis, influenza, rubella, varicella, and topics including outbreak investigation and vaccination.
Related GIDS surveillance
Literature context does not validate, explain, or change a surveillance signal. Exact and contextual relationships are shown separately.
Evidence relationships
This article has 13 auditable classifier relationships to diseases, places, topics, and study design.