Trends of measles in Nigeria: A systematic review

Abstract

Background: Measles, a highly infectious viral disease, is endemic in developing countries with a peak of transmission from October to March. The case fatality rate of measles in the developing countries stands at around 3-5%; this could be as high as 10% during epidemics. Although natural infection with the measles virus confers life-long immunity, those vaccinated with the vaccine could get up to 10 years of protection. In spite of the availability of measles vaccines, there have been sporadic measles outbreaks, especially in developing countries, hence the need to know the underlying cause. Study Design: Systematic review. Method: Relevant literature was reviewed on trend of measles. The literature accessed from the W.H.O and UNICEF sites, and also using Google search include case-series studies, community-based studies on age-specific measles case fatality ratios (CFRs), and cohort analysis of surveillance data. Results: The review shows that lowest measles CFR is seen among the vaccinated children and highest seen among the unvaccinated children. Additionally, the broad range of case and death definitions of measles as well as the study population and geography, clearly highlight the complexities in extrapolating results for global public health planning. Conclusion: The outcome of several studies has shown that measles outbreaks are associated with factors that include: weak measles case-based surveillance in some areas, lack of awareness about the disease among parents, vaccine stock-out, and lack of adequate cold chain equipment to preserve the vaccine in remote hard-to-reach areas.

Keywords

• Case-based surveillance
• case fatality rates
• measles
• outbreaks
• vaccination