A Measles Outbreak in Serdang Bedagai District, Indonesia
Measles is a highly contagious, serious disease caused by a virus. In January 2012, a measles outbreak was reported in Kuala Lama Village, Serdang Bedagai District. An epidemiological investigation was conducted to identify the risk factor and recommend control measures.
METHODS:
This was an observational study with case control design. A suspected case was onset of fever and rash among a resident of the village. A confirmed case was a suspected case with measles-specific IgM identified in the serum. Door-to-door visits were conducted. Controls were neighbors of cases. The study used bivariate and multivariate analyses with chi-square and logistic regression. Odds ratio (OR) was used to determine risk factors.
RESULTS:
We interviewed 83 cases and 85 controls. Twenty out of 83 suspected cases were laboratory confirmed. The mean age of cases was 20 years, children aged 5-9 years had the highest attack rate (48.19%), 53% of confirmed cases were females. The index case-patient had onset at end of December 2011 when he arrived from another district. The multivariate analysis showed that lack of vaccination (OR:3.21 95% CI: 1.41-9.72), contact with measles cases (OR:1.21 95% CI: 1.12-4.72) were the risk factors.
CONCLUSIONS:
A measles outbreak was confirmed. The risk factors were lack of vaccination and contact with measles cases. We recommend a mass vaccination, health promotion information, and better targeting of surveillance.