November 2020 Vol. 8 No.11

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Original Research Article

Frequency of Complications of Measles Patients Admitted in Paediatric Ward Ayub Teaching Hospital (ATH) Abbottabad

Muhammad Shoaib, Faiqa Ghani, Abdul Haseeb, Fazal Mabood, Muhammad Siqaf Anjum,
Aiman Usman Lodhi

Department of Community Medicine Ayub Medical College Abbottabad

*Corresponding Author's Email: drabdul.haq15@gmail.com

Received: 01 November 2020  I  Accepted: 21 November 2020  I  Published: 28 November 2020  I  Article ID: MRJMMS-20-186
Copyright © 2020 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article.
This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0.

Abstract

Measles is a highly contagious disease caused by measles virus. Measles was responsible for millions of deaths annually worldwide before the introduction of the measles vaccines. The evidence of measles can be found from the 7th century. It was described by a Persian physician Rhazes in the 10th century as “more to be dreaded than small pox. Measles is still common in many developing countries including Pakistan. Before the availability of measles vaccines, 90% of children were infected before they reached 15 years. Measles is easily spread from person to person when the infected person talks, coughs or sneezes, the virus enters the air and enters the body through mouth and nose. The measles virus lives on contaminated surfaces and air up to two hours. Symptoms of measles include fever, skin rashes, cough, runny nose and white spots inside the mouth. This curriculum based cross sectional study was designed and selected as a convenient sampling technique to be carried out Paediatric ward ATH district Abbottabad. Data was collected by means of an interview-based questionnaire from the attendants, which was then computed into statistics using SPSS software and the results were interpreted. Children from rural areas were affected more as compared to children from urban areas. Pre-school children are affected more than school-going children of the same area. Vaccinated children as predicted were less affected than the non-vaccinated children because of their vulnerable immune system. Children who received vitamin A supplementation had a less severe form of the disease as compared to those children which were deprived of vitamin A supplementation during or before the infection. In this area, the measles vaccination rate was way below satisfactory; we need to improve vaccination of measles and other infectious diseases at least up to 80%. Children who were brought in a later stage of the disease had distinctly severe symptoms than those who were hospitalized in proper time. Measles infection is highly contagious and the patient must be isolated.

Keywords: Child health, Infectious diseases, Measles, Vaccination, vitamin A.