Measles outbreaks and Supplemental Immunization Activities (SIAs): the Gwagwalada experience Abuja 2015.

Tuesday, 23rd of April 2019

Measles outbreaks and Supplemental Immunization Activities (SIAs): the Gwagwalada experience Abuja 2015.

 

Cite this: The Pan African Medical Journal. 2019;32 (Supp 1):10. DOI:10.11604/pamj.supp.2019.32.1.13368

Received: 15/07/2017 - Accepted: 04/12/2017 - Published: 24/01/2019

Key words: Immunization hard to reach measles outbreaks surveillance vaccination Nigeria

© Olukemi Titilope Olugbade et al. The Pan African Medical Journal - ISSN 1937-8688. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative

Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) which permits unrestricted use distribution and reproduction in any medium provided the

original work is properly cited.

Corresponding author: Olukemi Titilope Olugbade Nigeria Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Programme Abuja Nigeria (titilope_nc@yahoo.com)

Research

Supplement article

Abstract

Introduction: in November 2015 a measles outbreak was detected in several clustered settlements during the Northern Measles Supplementary Immunization Activities (SIAs) campaign in Gwagwalada Nigeria a measles outbreak was detected. Six weeks later another outbreak with 17 cases was reported in a different settlement in the same area council in December 2015 and January 2016. An outbreak investigation was initiated to characterize the outbreak in terms of time and person and implement prevention and control measures.

Methods: suspected cases were defined as any person in Gwagwalada with onset of fever and rash between 1st November 2015 and 12^th January 2016. Probable cases were defined as suspected cases with 3 days of rash or known exposure to someone with laboratory-confirmed measles. Confirmed case patients were defined as suspected or probable cases with Koplik spots or positive titer for immunoglobulin (Ig) M antibody. We conducted house to house case search contact tracing and reviewed hospital records at the health facilities to determine the socio-demographic characteristics clinical presentation and vaccinationstatus of the cases.

 

Results: active case search between November 2015 and January 2016 as well as record review from January 2015 to January 2016 showed that there were 109 suspected and 10 confirmed case patients. We identified 66 cases during the first reported outbreak with a case fatality rate of 6% (4 deaths) while 17 cases were identified 6 weeks later. The epidemic curve indicated a person-to-person transmission.

 

Conclusion: there had been cases of measles from January 2015 to November 2015 prior to the reported measles outbreak. However there was an unusual increase in the number of measles cases during the measles SIAs in communities where children were missed. Vaccination of all eligible children in the affected wards was carried out. The area council authorities and primary healthcare team need to create awareness on the importance of measles vaccination and ensure that these communities are targeted and covered during subsequent SIAs.

 

This article is published as part of the supplement “Sharing experiences from the field: updates from the Nigeria Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program” sponsored by Nigeria Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program

Guest editors: Patrick Mboya Nguku African Field Epidemiology Network 50 Haile Selassie Asokoro Abuja Nigeria

Available online at: http://www.panafrican-med-journal.com/content/series/32/1/10/full

 

Olukemi Titilope Olugbade1& Adeniran Sunday Adeyemi2 Adedotun Hadizah Adeoti3 Olayinka Stephen Ilesanmi1 Saheed

Oluwatoyin Gidado4 Ndadilnasiya Endie Waziri4 Mabel Kamweli Aworh15

1Nigeria Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Programme Abuja Nigeria 2Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit Department of Primary

Healthcare Gwagwalada Area Council Abuja FCT Nigeria 3Epidemiology Unit Ministry of Health Ibadan Oyo State Nigeria 4National Stop

Transmission of Polio Programme (NSTOP) Abuja Nigeria 5Department of Veterinary and Pest Services Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural

Development Abuja Nigeria

&Corresponding author:

Olukemi Titilope Olugbade Nigeria Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Programme Abuja Nigeria