AUTHOR=Shimelis Yohannes , Asrat Anemaw , Tadege Tesfahun , Feleke Sefineh Fenta 

TITLE=Measles outbreak investigation in Berhet District, North Shewa, Ethiopia

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=Volume 12 - 2024

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1330205

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2024.1330205

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=Introduction: Measles, though usually self-limiting, can have severe consequences influenced by factors such as vaccination, nutrition, and notably linked to vitamin A deficiency and malnutrition. Despite progress, contextual changes and implementation issues have hampered efforts, resulting in increased outbreaks and cases of measles. This study seeks to pinpoint outbreak features, risk factors, and strategies for preventing and controlling measles.A descriptive cross-sectional study and a 1:2 unmatched case-control study design were employed. All 101 suspected measles cases listed on the line-list were included in the descriptive research, with 60 measles patients and 120 controls included in the case-control investigation. Line list data were cleaned and analyzed using a pivot table in Microsoft Excel 2016. Subsequently, the data were cleaned, entered into Epi Info 7.2, and exported to SPSS 26 for analysis.Results: Twenty cases occurred per 10,000 individuals. Males accounted for 67.3% of cases, with ages ranging from five months to forty-five years, and mean and standard deviations of 9.6 and 7.6, respectively. Age groups 5-14 comprised 57.4% of cases, followed by 1-4 years at 24.8%. Being unvaccinated against measles showed an adjusted odds ratio (AOR) of 12.06 (95% CI: 3.12-46.52). Travel history to regions with active cases had an AOR of 5.73 (95% CI: 1.78-18.38). Contact with a measles patient showed an AOR of 10.3 (95% CI: 3.48-30.5).Understanding measles transmission mechanism had an AOR of 0.164 (95% CI: 0.049-0.55), and awareness of the disease's preventability had an AOR of 0.233 (95% CI: 0.67-0.811). All factors were independently associated with the illness.This outbreak affected a broader age range with a high attack rate, mainly within the 5-14 years age group. Over 35% of cases lacked measles vaccination, indicating low administrative vaccine coverage. Factors contributing to the outbreak include lack of measles vaccination, travel to areas with active disease, contact with cases, and insufficient knowledge of measles transmission and prevention strategies among mothers and caregivers.