Measles at Work: Status of Measles Vaccination at a Multinational Company

Biological Profile and Clinical Features as Determinants for Prolonged Hospitalization in Adult Patients with Measles: A Monocentric Study in Western Romania

Measles is a highly infectious and sometimes deadly illness that is preventable with vaccination. The present research aims to analyze the most recent measles epidemic from Romania that occurred in a population with a falling desire to receive immunizations, by detailing the clinical picture and biological profile of hospitalized patients. A secondary goal of the present research is to identify characteristics that increase the likelihood of a longer hospitalization and the development of measles-related pneumonia. A retrospective cohort study was conducted to follow the course and effects of measles virus infection in adult hospitalized patients who were divided into two groups based on whether they had been in the hospital for more than 6 days or fewer than 6 days. A total of 114 adult patients with measles were eligible to participate in the trial if they had a positive measles-specific IgM antibody test resulting from the study. The average age in the short hospital stay group was 28.1 years, while the average age in the long hospital stay group was 31.9 years. There was a statistically significant difference in the number of Roma persons in the research groups, with 17.4 percent of them having a lengthy hospital stay compared to 5.9 percent in the group with a short hospital stay, according to the findings. It was observed that many patients had a long hospitalization associated with chronic lung disease (OR = 1.07), liver damage (OR = 1.66), Roma ethnicity (OR = 1.79), a long duration elapsed from the last MMR dose (OR = 2.02), elevated c-reactive protein (OR = 2.17), the presence of bilateral pulmonary condensations on X-ray (OR = 3.13), and elevated procalcitonin (OR = 3.49). The same significant independent risk factors were also associated with the development of pneumonia. It is of imperative need to address these risk factors in a patient with measles, moreover in association with an unknown status of vaccination. Vaccination awareness against measles must be pushed in Romania to determine a higher than 95% coverage. Significant efforts are still needed to ensure improved protection against measles epidemics within a specific region or population and, more importantly, in patients with significant risk factors for complications, as described in this study.

Application of the Parent Attitudes about Childhood Vaccines (PACV) survey in three national languages in Switzerland: Exploratory factor analysis and Mokken scale analysis

Vaccine hesitancy (VH) is a complex and context-specific phenomenon that is linked to under-immunization and poses challenges to immunization programs. The Parent Attitudes about Childhood Vaccines (PACV) is an instrument developed to measure VH. We translated the PACV into three languages (German, French and Italian) and administered it to 1388 Swiss parents. We used exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to confirm the scale sub-domains, Cronbach's alpha to assess internal consistency reliability, and Mokken scale analysis (MSA), to explore unidimensionality of each language version. We determined to construct validity by linking parental PACV score to children's immunization status for the first dose of measles vaccine. For the 15-item PACV, EFA extracted three sub-domains in German and French and four sub-domains in Italian. Cronbach's alpha was >0.8 across the three languages, and MSA produced a 13-item German, 14-item French, and 11-item Italian PACV. EFA and MSA of the short version PACV extracted a single factor and scale with Cronbach's alpha >0.7 in all three language versions. VH was significantly associated with non-timely receipt of the first dose of measles in all languages (odds ratio of 20.7, 21.3, and 8.3 for German, French, and Italian languages, respectively). The translated and revised PACV-15 versions are valid and reliable instruments for VH measurement. The structure and reliability of the short version of the PACV was as good as the long version. Our results suggest that the PACV can be used to measure parental VH outside the US in the validated languages.