The first reported case was an eight year-old Roma child of Romanian nationality, living in a settlement located in the outskirts of Rome. The child was admitted to hospital with rash, fever, diarrhoea, conjunctivitis, rhinitis and otitis on 28 June 2006, reporting onset of symptoms on 24 June 2006. Analysis of routine data allowed the identification of an additional case that had been notified one week previously, in Rome by a different LHU. This case was an unvaccinated six-year-old Roma child, also of Romanian nationality, who developed symptoms on 16 June 2006. The child was not hospitalised and the source of his infection was not determined, since his parents refused to answer to questioning by the health officials and then moved away. He transmitted the infection to an eight-year-old child living in the same building, who developed symptoms on 1 July 2006 and was hospitalised. In the last week of June two additional Roma/Sinti children, in two different health authorities, developed measles symptoms on 23 June and 24 June respectively. By the end of July in Rome, an additional 25 measles cases had been reported in various settlements of the Roma/Sinti community and 16 cases among the rest of population. Two cases among the Italian ethnic population, who developed symptoms on 19 and 20 July, reported contact with Roma/Sinti patients with measles in a hospital waiting area, on 4 and 10 July 