Abstract

*Dr. Saleh Ahmed, Dr. Mazhar Hassan and Shafiq Ur Rehman

ABSTRACT

Introduction and background: Measles is highly contagious and remains a leading cause of childhood mortality. Outbreak of Measles were reported from various parts of Pakistan. An outbreak was reported to district health officer Rahim Yar Khan through a medical officer working at THQ hospital Sadiqabad on 22-05-2021. An investigation team was formulated under the direction of the CEO health and Deputy Commissioner Rahim Yar Khan to investigate the outbreak. The investigation team comprised of polio team. The study continued from 22-05-2021 to 20-07-2021. Purpose: To confirm the outbreak, asses its magnitude and to implement prevention and control activities to stop spread of the outbreak. Methods and material: It was a crosse-sectional study. Sampling was done through non-probability purposive sampling technique. A case of measles was defined as a person of any age, resident of district Rahim Yar Khan with non -vesicular maculopapular rash with fever and at least one of the following: cough, coryza and conjunctivitis presenting between 22-05-2021 to 20-07-2021. Data was collected using pretested structured questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS v. 26.0. Results: Total 24 cases were identified. The Epi curve ranges from 25-06-2021 to 26-06-2021. Mean age of the cases was 59.71 ± 47.94(range 7–156 months). There were 17 (70.8%) males and 7 (29.2%) females. All patients recovered, no death reported. Vaccination showed protective effect. Among 5 Measles IgM positive cases, 4 patients received zero dose of vaccination and 1 patient received one dose of vaccination (P value 0.001). Vaccination coverage showed 4.2% of suspected patients received measles-1, sixteen patients were fully immunized and remaining 7 patients didn’t get any dose of Measle vaccination. The main symptoms of the cases were fever among 100% cases (n=24), followed by rash among 100% cases (n=24), coryza among 50% cases, and conjunctivitis among 58.3% cases (n=51) and pneumonia among 4.2% of the cases. Conclusion: This Measles outbreak in District Rahim Yar Khan revealed that majority of the confirmed cases were not immunized against measles and other vaccine preventable diseases included in routine immunization.