Seroprevelance of Measles and Rubella among Egyptian military conscripts.

Abstract

Measles is an acute viral illness caused by a virus in the family Paramyxoviruis, genus Morbillivirus, measles virus is the most contagious virus known to human kind and a leading cause of mortality in children world wide It spreads by the respiratory route and causes a well defined disease in seronegative individuals usually in early childhood . Measles is characterized by a prodorome (2-5) days and then begins with increasing fever, cough, coryza and conjunctivitis and followed by erythrematousmaculopapular rash. It begins to fade (3-4) days after it appears, clinical recovery begins soon after the appearance of the rash. Complications of measles include conjunctivitis, keratitis, laryngeotracheobronchitis, pneumonia and most dangerously encephalitis. Although usually a mild or moderately severe illness of childhood, measles can result in residual impairment form encephalitis and up to death . Measles is an ideal virus for eradication through immunization because cases are clinically identifiable and with only one serotype. Despite the development of a successful live attenuated vaccine, measles remains a major cause of mortality in children particularly in developing countries, and a continuing cause of outbreaks in industrialized nations . Rubella also a vaccine preventable disease is caused by a virus in the family Togaviridae, genus Rubivirus. Rubella is transmitted through oropharyngyeal secretions, children and pregnant women are the primary susceptible groups. It is normally a self-limiting disease, with incubation period from 16-18 days. The patient remains infective 2 days before the rash and 7 days after, it is characterized by rash, fever and lymphadenopathy . The rash is the initial manifestation of the disease, it is first seen on the face and spreads to the trunk and limbs, lesions appear as distinct maculopapules that later coalesce and then fade rapidly over several days. Complications include arthropathy, thrombocytopenia and encephalopathy. It carries little morbidity, however infection during early pregnancy may lead to congenital rubella syndrome. In infants with congenital rubella syndrome, the virus may cause long term damage to many organs and body systems including eyes, ears, the heart and nervous system. Despite the efficacy of the current rubella vaccine, problems still exist. These include potential dangers associated with vaccination of pregnant women or immune compromised patients and also lack of immunity of some women of child bearing age due to either (missed opportunity for vaccination, vaccine failure or durability of the immune response elicited. In this study we found that despite vaccination against measles and German measles is compulsory many people were still susceptibleeither due to ignorance or due to the need for a second doseof the vaccine to activate their immune system .