Supervisors info:
Μίχος Αθανάσιος, Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Παπαευαγγέλου Βασιλική, Καθηγήτρια, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Σπυρίδης Νικόλαος, Επίκουρος Καθηγητής, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Summary:
Measles is an acute viral infection, that is higly contagious and potentially serius, being connected with a list of complications. Although, more children across the world are being vaccinated against measles, progress has been uneven between and within countries, leaving clusters of susceptible individuals unprotected, and resulting in periodic epidemics.
A new outbreak occured in Greece during 2017-2018, with a total of 3.259 cases, that is characterised by high morbidity rates, especially among children.
The aim of this study is to describe the epidemiological and clinical characteristics and laboratory findings of the measles cases in a tertiary hospital in Athens, Greece. It is a retrospective study on children 0-16 years old diagnosed with measles in "Agia Sofia" Children's Hospital in Athens, between 1st of August 2017 to 30th of October 2018. We included all the children that presented at the emergency department and/or were hospitalized with compatible clinical presentation and history of exposure, that were confirmed with molecular detection of the viruses RNA in biological samples (mainly pharyngeal swabs) (Real-time polymerase chain reaction, RT-PCR).
During the study period, 578 measles cases were reported, 342 (59% of which were hospitalized. The largest number of reported cases were younger than 5 years old. 74% of the cases belonged to the Roma population, while 86% were unvaccinated. Complications occured in 40% of children. The most common complications were hepatitis (24%), otitis (12,5%) and dehydration (11,6%). 2% of the cases were admitted to a PICU and a 11 month old unvaccinated infant with dystrophy died, due to sepsis.
In conclusion, measles is characterised by high mordidity rates and complications. In order to address future challenges, high vaccination coverage should be achieved, as long as closing immunity gaps in the population and ensuring high-quality measles surveillance.
Keywords:
Measles, Outbreak, Greece, Children, Epidemiology
