Abstract
BackgroundMeasles outbreaks are prevalent throughout sub-Saharan Africa despite the preventive measures like vaccination that target under five-year-old children and health systems strengthening efforts like prioritizing the supply chain for supplies. Measles immunization coverage for Kasese district and Bugoye HC III in 2018 was 72 and 69%, respectively. This coverage has been very low and always marked red in the Red categorization (below the national target/poor performing) on the national league table indicators. The aim of this study was to assess the scope of the 2018–2019 measles outbreak and the associated risk factors among children aged 0–60 months in Bugoye sub-county, Kasese district, western Uganda.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective unmatched case-control study among children aged 0–60 months with measles (cases) who had either a clinical presentation or a laboratory confirmation (IgM positivity) presenting at Bugoye Health Centre III (BHC) or in the surrounding communities between December 2018 and October 2019.. Caregivers of the controls (whose children did not have measles) were selected at the time of data collection in July 2020. A modified CDC case investigation form was used in data collection. Quantitative data was collected and analyzed using Microsoft excel and STATA version 13. The children’s immunization cards and health registers at BHC were reviewed to ascertain the immunization status of the children before the outbreak.ResultsAn extended measles outbreak occurred in Bugoye, Uganda occured between December 2018 and October 2019. All 34 facility-based measles cases were documented to have had maculopapular rash, conjunctivitis, and cough. Also, the majority had fever (97%), coryza (94.1%), lymphadenopathy (76.5%), arthralgias (73.5%) and Koplik Spots (91.2%) as documented in the clinical registers. Similar symptoms were reported among 36 community-based cases. Getting infected even after immunized, low measles vaccination coverage were identified as the principal risk factors for this outbreak.ConclusionMeasles is still a significant problem. This study showed that this outbreak was associated with under-vaccination. Implementing a second routine dose of measles-rubella vaccine would not only increase the number of children with at least one dose but also boost the immunity of those who had the first dose.
Highlights
Measles outbreaks are prevalent throughout sub-Saharan Africa despite the preventive measures like vaccination that target under five-year-old children and health systems strengthening efforts like prioritizing the supply chain for supplies
A total of 50 (10.9%) of these diagnosed with measles were below five years of age were determined to be eligible for the study (Fig. 2)
Our investigation documents an extended outbreak of measles that occurred among young children in a rural western Uganda
Summary
Measles outbreaks are prevalent throughout sub-Saharan Africa despite the preventive measures like vaccination that target under five-year-old children and health systems strengthening efforts like prioritizing the supply chain for supplies. Measles immunization coverage for Kasese district and Bugoye HC III in 2018 was 72 and 69%, respectively. The aim of this study was to assess the scope of the 2018–2019 measles outbreak and the associated risk factors among children aged 0–60 months in Bugoye sub-county, Kasese district, western Uganda. With an almost 300% increase in cases reported between 2016 and 2018, measles continues to represent a significant public health challenge in sub-Saharan Africa [5]. Recent trends continue to show increases in all regions [5] This increase was pronounced in the WHO Africa Region, which recorded a 700% increase over the first four months of 2019 [9], highlighting that measles outbreaks remain a major public health challenge
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