1. Assessment of vaccine effectiveness during measles outbreak in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2014-2015
- Author
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Blaško Topalović, Zijada Smajlagić, Sutka Ćatić, and Sanjin Musa
- Subjects
Male ,0301 basic medicine ,Pediatrics ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Adolescent ,Measles Vaccine ,030106 microbiology ,Measles outbreak ,Measles ,Disease Outbreaks ,03 medical and health sciences ,Vaccination failure ,0302 clinical medicine ,Humans ,Medicine ,030212 general & internal medicine ,Child ,Immunization Schedule ,Retrospective Studies ,Bosnia and Herzegovina ,business.industry ,Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health ,Outbreak ,Retrospective cohort study ,General Medicine ,medicine.disease ,Vaccination ,Immunization ,Child, Preschool ,Female ,Measles vaccine ,business - Abstract
Objective: Between February 2014 and September 2015 a large measles outbreak (5,084 cases) occurred in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FB&H). The aim of this study is to assess the effectiveness of routine measles vaccination in the FB&H. Methods: We conducted an analysis of the resurgence period surveillance data and a retrospective cohort study involving primary school aged children in randomly selected schools. Results: Measles cases occurred among all age groups, mostly among the unvaccinated. Among fully immunized, 2.1% contracted measles. Measles vaccine effectiveness was high. The study indicates that one dose reduced the risk for measles by 91.9% (95% CI: 81.4-96.4%), two doses reduced the risk by 97.3% (95% CI: 95.5-98.4%). No evidence of waning immunity was found. Our survey reveals that a significant number of children had no immunization status registered. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that the resurgence was likely caused by an accumulation of measles-susceptible children not being vaccinated. This vaccine effectiveness study does not support possible vaccination failure as a contributing factor.
- Published
- 2018
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