The epidemiological and serological characteristics of measles in Dongguan China 2005-2014.

Tuesday, 29th of March 2016

Hum Vaccin Immunother. 2016 Mar 22:0. [Epub ahead of print]

The epidemiological and serological characteristics of measles in Dongguan China 2005-2014.

Han K¹ Chen S² Tang C² Wen J² Li J³ Ni J⁴ Zheng X¹.

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Abstract

This study examined the epidemiological and serological characteristics of measles in Dongguan China. From 2005 to 2014 a total of 8224 measles cases were reported in Dongguan 33.5% of which were aged <1 year and 30.6% >14 years. From 2005 to 2014 the proportion of the <1 year measles cases increased year by year from 24.3% to 47.9%. Of the cases aged ≥8 months (n=6768 cases) only 11.6% had been immunized with at least one dose of measles vaccine. Of the 2213 cases who had never been immunized with measles vaccine immigrants accounted for 82.4%. 52.4% of the measles cases were diagnosed with pneumonia and 12 cases died from respiratory failure. Sero prevalence rate in women and their newborns was 86.0% and 82.5% respectively. Measurement of serum measles antibody levels for infants aged less than 8 months indicated that sero prevalence rate dramatically declined from 97.3% at birth to 9.3% and 13.2% at 6- and 7- month old. The existence of a sufficient pool of unvaccinated people (especially immigrants) and decreased level of passively transferred measles antibodies in infants from vaccinated mothers contributed to the sustained transmission observed in Dongguan. In addition to high routine vaccination coverage new strategies and innovations for measles vaccination are needed to eliminate measles.