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Do We Need To Give Measles Vaccine To Children Earlier Than The Currently Recommended Age?
Ammarah Jamal1, Yousuf SYahya1, Muhammad Tariq Karim2
1Department of Paediatrics, DUHS & Civil Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan.
Insights
Measles infections are occurring in Pakistani children younger than the recommended nine-month vaccination age. This study highlights the need to address measles cases in infants and individuals of all ages.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Infectious Diseases
- Public Health
Background:
- Measles remains a significant cause of childhood mortality globally.
- While a vaccine exists, measles infection is increasingly observed in infants under nine months in Pakistan.
- No specific antiviral treatment for measles has been developed.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze the age distribution of measles cases in Sindh, Pakistan.
- To identify measles infection trends in children below the standard vaccination age.
Main Methods:
- Secondary data analysis of the Expanded Program on Immunization records in Sindh from January to April 2016.
- Inclusion criteria: patients meeting the World Health Organization measles case definition with positive IgM antibodies.
- Data analysis using SPSS version 21.0.
Main Results:
- Analysis of 658 confirmed measles cases revealed an age range from 3 to 336 months (mean 32.82 months).
- 18% of cases were 9 months or younger, with 1.8% being 6 months or younger.
- Significant numbers of cases were also observed in older children and adults (11.6% over 60 months).
Conclusions:
- A substantial proportion of measles infections occur before the first recommended vaccine dose at nine months.
- Measles affects a wide age spectrum, from infants as young as three months to individuals up to 28 years.
- Findings suggest a need to re-evaluate current measles vaccination strategies in Pakistan.
Background:
Measles is a leading cause of death among children. No specific drug has yet been discovered to treat measles but an available vaccine can effectively prevent the infection. In Pakistan children are vaccinated against measles by two doses given at age of nine months onward. The last few years have witnessed an increasing number of measles cases at age lower than nine months.
Methods:
Secondary data analysis of the records of Expanded Program on Immunization from all districts of Sindh was performed from January-April 2016. Data included all patients of any age or gender, fulfilling the World Health Organization case definition of measles, along with positive IgM antibodies for measles in their blood. Data was analysed using windows SPSS version 21.0.
Results:
Analysis of 658 confirmed measles cases showed an age range of 3 months to 336 months with a mean of 32.82. Most patients (41.4%) belonged to age group 10-24months. Some noteworthy18% of cases were ≤9 months old including 1.8% patients who were ≤6 months age. An unexpected 76 (11.6%) were >60 months of age. 50.6% of the cases were male while 49.4% were female. Most of the patients (73.9%) belonged to urban areas.
Conclusions:
We conclude that a sizeable number of children are infected by measles before reaching the age of first recommended inoculation against measles. It is affecting people at both extremes of life ranging from as young as three months up to 28 years of age.
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