Clinical features of measles in children under 3 years

Abstract

Measles occurs at any age. Outbreaks appear to be exacerbated during periods of low vaccination coverage. In Ukraine in 2016, the level of vaccinations with the first dose was only in 45% of children, and the second — in 31%. Thus, during 2017 only in the Odessa region the number of measles patients reached 1 016. The purpose was to identify the features of the clinical course of measles in young children and infants. Materials and methods. A retrospective study of the medical histories of 111 young children, 68 of them in the first year of life. Results. Measles in children 3 years old retains the typical features of acute onset, manifestations of intoxication (71.82%), fever (99.09%), cough (94.55%), catarrhal phenomena and rash. At the same time, rhinitis (95.59%) and puffiness of the face (100%) are characteristic of children under one year compared with children 1–3 years (51.16% and 58.14%, respectively) p<0.001. Measles severity depends on the age of the child (in children (35.29%) younger than 12 months there was a severe course, and in (55.62%) children younger than 6 months). Complications were found in (44.14%) children. Among them, pneumonia (32.35%) is more common in children under 1 year of age, bronchitis (18.6%) and pneumonia (16.28%) in children aged 1–3 years are approximately the same in frequency. Otitis media (7.35%) was found only in children under 12 months. Conclusions. Thus, the clinical manifestations, severity and complications of measles depend on the age of the child, and the presence of children less than 6 months (28.81%) indicates the existence of a non3immune layer among women of childbearing age. The research was carried out in accordance with the principles of the Helsinki Declaration. The study protocol was approved by the Local ethics committee of the participating institution. The informed consent of the patient was obtained for conducting the studies. No conflict of interest was declared by the authors. Key words: measles, complications, young children, infants.