MEASLES OUTBREAK IN AL-KADHIMIYA, IRAQ, 2008-2009 AND ITS COMMON COMPLICATIONS

Abdul Abass, Areege; Karem Jasem  Albahadle, Abdul

	MEASLES OUTBREAK IN AL-KADHIMIYA, IRAQ, 2008-2009 AND ITS COMMON COMPLICATIONS
IRAQI JOURNAL OF MEDICAL SCIENCES
Article 1, Volume 7, Issue 3, 2009, Pages 46-51
Authors
Areege Abdul abass; Abdul Karem Jasem Albahadle
Abstract
Background: Worldwide efforts for measles elimination are made possible due to the availability of highly effective measles vaccine. In spite of that, there is high percentage of unvaccinated children in our country-making outbreak of measles easy and highly occurred. Objective: To identify the outbreak of measles in AL-Kadhimiya-Baghdad and its common complications with fatality causes and rate. Patients and methods: Cross-sectional study was conducted during the period between 20 th December 2008 to 30 th April 2009 on 494 patients with measles attending AL-Kadhimiya Teaching Hospital ,AL-Kadhimiya Hospital for pediatrics and two Primary Health Center (Al-Shaheed Basher Al-Jasaery Primary health center in AL-Shaula city and Al-Noor Primary health center in AL-Jawaden city)and they were divided into four group according to their age which were (below 1 year ),(1-4yr ),(5-9yr)and above 10 years ,regarding immunization status was assessed by examining the immunization card or parental inquiry on this regard. Result: Male are nearly equal to female (49.80 %)and (50.20 %) respectively. Of 494 reported cases 97 (19.64 %) were under one year of age and 287(58.97 % )were 1-4 years old and this mean that more than two-third 384 (78.61 % ) of patient were under 4 years ,small group (10.53 %) were vaccinated against measles .Complications were Pneumonia, Diarrhea and Vomiting, Croup and Encephalitis ,in (83.85 % ) ,(11.46 %) , (2.60 % ) , (2.09 % ) respectively. Mortality rate was (2.43%) which occured most commonly in age group below 5 years (91.7 %) and slightly more in male (58.4 %) than female (41.6 %) causes of deaths were pneumonia (83.4 %) and encephalitis (16.6 %). Conclusion: This outbreak of measles demonstrates the increased susceptibility of unvaccinated children who are below 5 years old .Pneumonia, Diarrhea and Vomiting, Croup and encephalitis are complications of measles and higher mortality rate occur in male sex and younger age group, (below 5 years old). Key words: measles, vaccine, outbreak, complications, children.
Keywords
measles; Vaccine; outbreak; complications; Children

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