Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the measles elimination status in Armenia.

IF 1.4 4区医学 Q4 INFECTIOUS DISEASES

Journal of Infection in Developing Countries Pub Date : 2025-04-29 DOI:10.3855/jidc.20558

Naira Melkonyan, Mary Ter-Stepanyan, Arman Badalyan, Hasmik Hovhannisyan

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Introduction: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic led to a decrease in immunization rates and measles surveillance, resulting in re-establishment of endemic measles transmission in many countries where measles was previously eliminated.

Methodology: We conducted a retrospective study to evaluate the impact of the pandemic on the measles elimination status in Armenia. We studied the prevalence of measles from 2000 to May 2024 and predicted the trend for the coming months. We assessed trends in coverage levels of the mumps-measles-rubella (MMR)1 and MMR2 vaccines in Armenia between 2003 and 2023. The performance indicators of measles surveillance at the national and subnational levels before, after, and during the pandemic (2013-May 2024) were studied.

Results: Endemic transmission of measles in Armenia was interrupted in 2008, and was sustained for many years; however, it was re-established in 2023. A total of 988 measles cases were recorded between February 2023 and May 2024. During the pandemic (2020-2022), MMR1 and MMR2 vaccine coverage decreased from the target level to 94%. Case-based measles surveillance was significantly weakened. Discarded case rate was 0.7 in 2020 and 2021, and 0.9 in 2022. After the pandemic, this indicator improved, reaching 33.3 in 2023 and 17.3 in 2024. The mean values of the numbers of discarded cases were 118 (95% CI, 73-163) in 2013-2019, and 23 (95% CI, 20-26) in 2020-2022 (p < 0.05).

Conclusions: The measles elimination status of Armenia was lost due to immunity gaps and weakening of measles surveillance during the pandemic.

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2019冠状病毒病大流行对亚美尼亚消除麻疹状况的影响。

导语：2019年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行导致免疫率和麻疹监测下降，导致许多以前已消灭麻疹的国家重新出现地方性麻疹传播。方法：我们进行了一项回顾性研究，以评估大流行对亚美尼亚消除麻疹状况的影响。我们研究了2000年至2024年5月麻疹的流行情况，并预测了未来几个月的趋势。我们评估了2003年至2023年间亚美尼亚流行性腮腺炎-麻疹-风疹（MMR）1和MMR2疫苗覆盖率的趋势。研究了大流行之前、之后和期间（2013年5月- 2024年5月）国家和国家以下各级麻疹监测的绩效指标。结果：亚美尼亚麻疹地方性传播于2008年中断，并持续多年；然而，它于2023年重新建立。在2023年2月至2024年5月期间，共记录了988例麻疹病例。在大流行期间（2020-2022年），MMR1和MMR2疫苗覆盖率从目标水平下降到94%。以病例为基础的麻疹监测明显减弱。2020年和2021年的丢弃率分别为0.7,2022年为0.9。疫情爆发后，这一指标有所改善，2023年达到33.3,2024年达到17.3。2013-2019年遗弃病例数的平均值为118例（95% CI, 73 ~ 163）， 2020-2022年的平均值为23例（95% CI, 20 ~ 26）（p < 0.05）。结论：在大流行期间，由于免疫差距和麻疹监测的削弱，亚美尼亚失去了消除麻疹的地位。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Infection in Developing Countries INFECTIOUS DISEASES-

CiteScore

3.70

自引率

5.30%

发文量

239

审稿时长

4-8 weeks

期刊介绍： The Journal of Infection in Developing Countries (JIDC) is an international journal, intended for the publication of scientific articles from Developing Countries by scientists from Developing Countries. JIDC is an independent, on-line publication with an international editorial board. JIDC is open access with no cost to view or download articles and reasonable cost for publication of research artcles, making JIDC easily availiable to scientists from resource restricted regions.