Measles laboratory-based surveillance in Zimbabwe during 2004-2009

Measles outbreak in Zimbabwe: An urgent rising concern

Introduction

Measles, one of the most common infections in the world, accounts for more than over 100.000 deaths every year. Measles outbreaks are still ravaging the African continent, and the 2010 Measles outbreak in Zimbabwe is one to be noted, where more than 7754 infections and 517 deaths were reported, ultimately leading to the UN initiation of the vaccination program. COVID-19 could have been delaying the vaccination process in Africa. This article aims to shed the light on the current Measles outbreak in Zimbabwe and how global health organizations are taking measures to fight off this outbreak.

Methodology

Data was collected from online databases PubMed, Science Direct, and the Lancet, as well as news and conferences and press releases on the current measles outbreak. All articles and news related to the measles outbreak in Zimbabwe were taken into consideration.

Results

A measles outbreak was reported earlier in August of 2022, with more than 2000 confirmed cases out of which 157 were reported dead. Since the outbreak this year, cases of measles in Zimbabwe have been rapidly growing. The government in Zimbabwe started a massive vaccination campaign for children in and near the areas where the outbreak is present. Traditional and faith leaders are involved in the campaigns to encourage the public to volunteer to be vaccinated.

Conclusion

Efforts to control the measles outbreak in Zimbabwe are being mitigated by the government as well as the WHO and other global health organizations. With many people refusing the vaccination, this outbreak might not see an end, and more cases, as well as deaths, will increase by the end of the year.

Measles in Romania - clinical and epidemiological characteristics of hospitalized measles cases during the first three years of the 2016-ongoing epidemic

A large measles epidemic has been ongoing in Romania and many European countries, since 2016. We report case-based surveillance data for all patients (n = 1371) with laboratory-confirmed and epidemiologically-confirmed measles hospitalized in a major infectious diseases hospital in Bucharest Romania during the first three years of the current measles epidemic (July 2016–July 2019).

More than half of the patients (57.6%) had ages below 5 years; 6% (n = 82) had preexisting comorbidities. Only 1.5% of the patients had been fully vaccinated, 5.9% had received only one vaccine dose, while 92.8% had not been vaccinated at all against measles. The rate of measles-related complications was 93.4%; complications occurred more frequently among patients who were not eligible for vaccination due to young age or underlying diseases, and among children, who developed pneumonia and enterocolitis more frequently than adults. The median hospital length-of-stay was 6 days. Eight cases (0.6%) required intensive care and mechanical ventilation, and three deaths (0.2%) were recorded.

Measles disproportionately affects patient groups who are not eligible for vaccination. During the current epidemic in Romania, 98.5% of the patients hospitalized for measles had not been vaccinated and among these, 75.7% would have been eligible for vaccination. For the remaining pool of unvaccinated children, supplementary immunization activities are urgently needed.

Epidemiological investigation of a case of chickenpox in a medical college in Kancheepuram, India

Chickenpox is an acute, highly infectious disease caused by human herpesvirus 3. The disease is highly communicable with a secondary attack rate of almost 90%. Secondary cases can occur due to their exposure to the primary case. The main aim of the current epidemiological investigation was to trace the probable source of infection and prevent the emergence of secondary cases. The epidemiological investigation showed that the index case was the primary case as well and that there were no secondary cases because of the immediate isolation of the primary case. This epidemiological investigation reinforced that effective preventive and control measures, if implemented timely for the primary case, can reduce the risk of transmission of infection from case to susceptible contacts and thus prevent the emergence of subsequent secondary cases.