IMPACT OF A MEASLES OUTBREAK RESPONSE IMMUNIZATION CAMPAIGN: MAROUA, CAMEROON, 2009.

Tuesday, 22nd of October 2013

[source]Journal of Infectious Diseases[|source]

In this report, Goodson JL et al report on non-selective outbreak response Immunization (ORI) used in a measles outbreak in Maroua district of Cameroon. The authors report that selective vaccination was not provided, despite the high demand for measles vaccine before the ORI. The ORI target population was 9 months to 14 years (including 4% of affected children 10-14yrs previously targeted by the “catch up” SIA in 2002. The report suggests that targeting children 9months to 9 years could have achieved the same epidemiological impact while being efficient on vaccine use. The argument for consideration of past SIAs coverage and quality is clearly made as yet another factor to consider in ORI. More details are available at http://jid.oxfordjournals.org/content/204/suppl_1/S252.long

Abstract

A large measles outbreak occurred in Maroua, Cameroon during October 2008–April 2009; a nine-day outbreak response immunization (ORI) campaign was initiated 15 weeks after the start of the outbreak during high transmission season. To assess the impact of ORI, we described changes to case counts and characteristics before and after ORI, and the reporting efficiency of measles cases to the surveillance system. A sharp decrease in cases occurred from 555 cases during the period before ORI to 162 cases during the period after ORI; reporting efficiency was 79.5% before ORI and 93.0% after ORI. These findings highlight the potential benefits of rapid implementation of recommended ORI strategies during measles outbreaks in Africa.