Epidemiological characteristics of measles morbidity in the Central Bosnia canton, 1997-2017

Abstract

Objective - The aim of the research was to show the occurrence and persistence of measles morbidity over a twenty year period in the area of the Central Bosnia Canton (Bosnia and Herzegovina).

Materials and methods - The research was retrospective and related to the period from 1997 to 2017. The sample comprised a total of 35,199 children. The subjects were considered in relation to their age, gender, place of residence, vaccination status and time of morbidity.

Results - In the period from 1997 to 2017, on average 36 cases of morbidity  caused by measles occurred each year. Most years in this period (13) did not have any registered cases of measles, and in five years the disease occurred sporadically: 1999 (three cases); 2000 (one); 2003 (one); 2005 (two); 2009 (one), and two epidemics occurred: in 1997, with 77 affected children and with an incidence rate in the population under consideration of 218/100,000; and in 2014 with an explosion of measles morbidity, when 639 affected children were registered (1815/100,000). The average coverage with the first dose of MMR vaccine over the last twenty years was 87%, and the poorest results were achieved in 2004, with 64%.

Conclusion - The epidemiological occurrence of measles in the area of four municipalities in central Bosnia is the result of omissions in the routine immunization programme.