Control measures and the outcome of the measles epidemic of 1999 in the Eastern Highlands Province.
| dc.contributor.author | Mgone, Charles S. | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2020-03-05T10:43:09Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2020-03-05T10:43:09Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 1999 | |
| dc.description.abstract | In the Eastern Highlands Province (EHP) of Papua New Guinea (PNG) measles outbreakshave occurred regularly every 3 to 4 years since 1980. The latest was between September 1998and March 2000. Between July 1999 and March 2000 314 children with measles were reviewedat Goroka Base Hospital. The majority of these children were very young: 55% were under 1year and 27% under 6 months. The median age of the measles cases was 11 months (range 10days to 13 years). 40% of the children had a verifiable history of having received at least onedose of measles vaccine. The majority were vaccinated during the epidemic and includedmany children who either were below 6 months of age or who developed measles within 2weeks of vaccination. Measles complications occurred in 82% of the children, the mostcommon being pneumonia. Serious complications, particularly severe pneumonia, were morecommon among the unvaccinated children than in those who had received at least a single doseof the measles vaccine. No deaths occurred among 82 children who had received measlesvaccine more than 2 weeks before the onset of clinical measles, compared with 10 deaths in 206children who had never been vaccinated against measles or were vaccinated in the 2 weeksbefore presentation (p=0.067). The overall case fatality was 4%: 14% among the hospital-acquired and 2.5% in community-acquired measles. Improvement in the measles vaccinationcoverage and supplementary vaccination campaigns are required to prevent measles outbreaksin PNG. Intensified measles vaccination campaigns, such as the one conducted in EHP in 1999,are recommended during epidemics to minimize deaths due to measles and to rapidly controloutbreaks. The efficacy of measles vaccination can only be measured in total mortality, not inthe prevention of clinical meales | en_US |
| dc.identifier.citation | Mgone, J.M., Mgone, C.S., Duke, T.R.E.V.O.R., Frank, D.A.L.E. and Yeka, W.I.L.L.I.A.M., 2000. Control measures and the outcome of the measles epidemic of 1999 in the Eastern Highlands Province. Papua New Guinea Medical Journal, 43(1/2), pp.91-97. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.other | https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/871e/d1e908e7cf472645d8160ae9322c15eb6aaa.pdf | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/304 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_US |
| dc.publisher | Papua New Guinea Medical Journal | en_US |
| dc.subject | Measles epidemic | en_US |
| dc.subject | Eastern Higherlands | en_US |
| dc.title | Control measures and the outcome of the measles epidemic of 1999 in the Eastern Highlands Province. | en_US |
| dc.type | Article | en_US |