Infection Prevention and Control

Biography

Biography: Henrieta Hudečková

Abstract

Measles is one of the most contagious diseases known affecting respiratory system. Currently the measles is eliminated in Slovakia since 1999. In this period, they were recorded only as imported and import-related cases. Our objectives were to describe the impact of vaccination strategy on measles incidence at national and regional levels and to assess the risk factors for measles infection. Our work is retrospective review of measles cases reported since January 1969 to December 2015. Measles reported cases are based on the standard criteria of ECDC. The data on morbidity were collected from the Epidemiological Information System of the Slovak Republic and data on the vaccination (according to the years of birth and the number of doses – MCV1 and MCV2) from the annual reports of administrative control of vaccination coverage. This study covers and compares periods: 1969-1984 (beginning of vaccination and its balance), 1985-1999 (decrease of endemic cases) and 2000-2015 (elimination of measles). The incidence of measles decreased during 1969-2015 mainly in the first (reported 108,091 cases; 145.4/100 000) and second (reported 2,474 cases; 3.1/100 000) period. In the third period only 23 import and import-related cases were reported. The highest age specific incidence was in the age group 0-4. The vaccination coverage was at the highest level (98-99%) in the long term, in the last three children cohorts (born in 2011, 2012, 2013) decrease to 96.8-93.9%. Our analysis showed the positive impact of vaccination on the epidemiological situation and increase of anti-vaccination activities and risk population (Romany population and migrants).

This work was supported by the Slovak Research and Development Support Agency under the Contract No. APVV-0096-12 (EPIBIOMAT).