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Analysing the characteristics of a measles outbreak in Houaphanh province to guide measles elimination in the Lao People's Democratic Republic

INTRODUCTION: In recent years, the incidence of measles has declined in the Lao People's Democratic Republic. However, an outbreak was reported in August 2014 in Houaphanh province, which was the biggest outbreak in the country since 2008. We describe the characteristics of this outbreak and ou...

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Autores principales: Sengkeopraseuth, Bounthanom, Khamphaphongphane, Bouaphanh, Vongphrachanh, Phengta, Xeuatvongsa, Anonh, Norasingh, Sisouveth, Pathammvong, Chansay, Phengxay, Manilay, Philakong, Phanmanisone, Datta, Siddhartha Sankar
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: World Health Organization 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6194222/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30377545
http://dx.doi.org/10.5365/wpsar.2017.8.1.012
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author Sengkeopraseuth, Bounthanom
Khamphaphongphane, Bouaphanh
Vongphrachanh, Phengta
Xeuatvongsa, Anonh
Norasingh, Sisouveth
Pathammvong, Chansay
Phengxay, Manilay
Philakong, Phanmanisone
Datta, Siddhartha Sankar
author_facet Sengkeopraseuth, Bounthanom
Khamphaphongphane, Bouaphanh
Vongphrachanh, Phengta
Xeuatvongsa, Anonh
Norasingh, Sisouveth
Pathammvong, Chansay
Phengxay, Manilay
Philakong, Phanmanisone
Datta, Siddhartha Sankar
author_sort Sengkeopraseuth, Bounthanom
collection PubMed
description INTRODUCTION: In recent years, the incidence of measles has declined in the Lao People's Democratic Republic. However, an outbreak was reported in August 2014 in Houaphanh province, which was the biggest outbreak in the country since 2008. We describe the characteristics of this outbreak and outline critical interventions for the Lao People's Democratic Republic to achieve measles elimination. METHODS: Fever and rash cases in the Khouan and Samtai districts with an onset date from 1 September to 25 October 2014 were investigated. Active case finding and health facility record reviews were carried out. Appropriate samples from the individuals with suspected measles were tested to confirm the diagnosis. RESULTS: A total of 265 suspected cases including 12 deaths were reported from eight villages in the Khouan and Samtai districts. Forty-five individuals tested positive for measles IgM. Most of the confirmed patients were male (n = 28, 62%), less than 5 years old (n = 23, 51%) and from the Hmong ethnic community (n = 44, 98%). The majority of the people with suspected measles (n = 213, 80%) and all the confirmed ones were unvaccinated. A measles vaccination campaign conducted in the eight affected villages resulted in 76% coverage of the targeted population. DISCUSSION: Low routine coverage and measles occurrence among unvaccinated individuals indicate underimmunized areas. The geographical and sociodemographic characteristics of this outbreak highlight the need for tailored vaccination strategies to close the immunity gap. A sensitive surveillance system that is able to detect, notify, investigate and guide response measures, including a second measles dose in the routine immunization schedule, will be essential for the Lao People's Democratic Republic to attain its measles elimination status.
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spelling pubmed-61942222018-10-30 Analysing the characteristics of a measles outbreak in Houaphanh province to guide measles elimination in the Lao People's Democratic Republic Sengkeopraseuth, Bounthanom Khamphaphongphane, Bouaphanh Vongphrachanh, Phengta Xeuatvongsa, Anonh Norasingh, Sisouveth Pathammvong, Chansay Phengxay, Manilay Philakong, Phanmanisone Datta, Siddhartha Sankar Western Pac Surveill Response J Non theme issue INTRODUCTION: In recent years, the incidence of measles has declined in the Lao People's Democratic Republic. However, an outbreak was reported in August 2014 in Houaphanh province, which was the biggest outbreak in the country since 2008. We describe the characteristics of this outbreak and outline critical interventions for the Lao People's Democratic Republic to achieve measles elimination. METHODS: Fever and rash cases in the Khouan and Samtai districts with an onset date from 1 September to 25 October 2014 were investigated. Active case finding and health facility record reviews were carried out. Appropriate samples from the individuals with suspected measles were tested to confirm the diagnosis. RESULTS: A total of 265 suspected cases including 12 deaths were reported from eight villages in the Khouan and Samtai districts. Forty-five individuals tested positive for measles IgM. Most of the confirmed patients were male (n = 28, 62%), less than 5 years old (n = 23, 51%) and from the Hmong ethnic community (n = 44, 98%). The majority of the people with suspected measles (n = 213, 80%) and all the confirmed ones were unvaccinated. A measles vaccination campaign conducted in the eight affected villages resulted in 76% coverage of the targeted population. DISCUSSION: Low routine coverage and measles occurrence among unvaccinated individuals indicate underimmunized areas. The geographical and sociodemographic characteristics of this outbreak highlight the need for tailored vaccination strategies to close the immunity gap. A sensitive surveillance system that is able to detect, notify, investigate and guide response measures, including a second measles dose in the routine immunization schedule, will be essential for the Lao People's Democratic Republic to attain its measles elimination status. World Health Organization 2018-07-27 /pmc/articles/PMC6194222/ /pubmed/30377545 http://dx.doi.org/10.5365/wpsar.2017.8.1.012 Text en (c) 2018 The authors; licensee World Health Organization. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution IGO License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/legalcode), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. In any reproduction of this article there should not be any suggestion that WHO or this article endorse any specific organization or products. The use of the WHO logo is not permitted. This notice should be preserved along with the article's original URL.
spellingShingle Non theme issue
Sengkeopraseuth, Bounthanom
Khamphaphongphane, Bouaphanh
Vongphrachanh, Phengta
Xeuatvongsa, Anonh
Norasingh, Sisouveth
Pathammvong, Chansay
Phengxay, Manilay
Philakong, Phanmanisone
Datta, Siddhartha Sankar
Analysing the characteristics of a measles outbreak in Houaphanh province to guide measles elimination in the Lao People's Democratic Republic
title Analysing the characteristics of a measles outbreak in Houaphanh province to guide measles elimination in the Lao People's Democratic Republic
title_full Analysing the characteristics of a measles outbreak in Houaphanh province to guide measles elimination in the Lao People's Democratic Republic
title_fullStr Analysing the characteristics of a measles outbreak in Houaphanh province to guide measles elimination in the Lao People's Democratic Republic
title_full_unstemmed Analysing the characteristics of a measles outbreak in Houaphanh province to guide measles elimination in the Lao People's Democratic Republic
title_short Analysing the characteristics of a measles outbreak in Houaphanh province to guide measles elimination in the Lao People's Democratic Republic
title_sort analysing the characteristics of a measles outbreak in houaphanh province to guide measles elimination in the lao people's democratic republic
topic Non theme issue
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6194222/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30377545
http://dx.doi.org/10.5365/wpsar.2017.8.1.012
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