Epidemiological, Clinical Aspects and Outcome of Measles in a Low-Income Country in 2023

Introduction: Measles remains a worrying health problem in sub-Saharan African countries. There have been measles outbreaks in Cameroon with the most recent occurring between October 2022 and September 2023. The Centre region of Cameroon was the most affected in the country and being at the frontline of the fight against this illness, we conducted this study in order to determine the epidemiological and clinical characteristics as well as the outcome of children who contracted the measles and were hospitalized at the Yaoundé Gynaeco-Obstetric and Pediatric Hospital. Methodology: We conducted a cross-sectional descriptive and prospective study for one year from October 2022 to November 2023 corresponding to the duration of the outbreak. We included all children admitted in the pediatric unit for measles and its complications during this period. Results: In total, 60 children were enrolled. Their caregivers were mostly their mothers who had a mean age of 34.71 ± 9.55 years living in significant precarious conditions for the majority. The median age of children was 16 months (09 - 30 months). Twenty six percent of children (16) were less than 9 months. Girls were predominant (55%). Most children were not up to date with their routine EPI vaccination (80%) and most did not receive the measles and Rubella vaccine (76.67%). Clinical manifestations, included fever, conjunctivitis, and cough. Skin rash and catarrh (98.33% and 86.67% respectively) are the case definition signs of measles. The outcome was unfavorable for 4 children. One had a neurological disorder: coma and three presented with pneumonia and severe respiratory distress (6.67%). Conclusion: Measles is still being a reality and claiming lives in our context, emphasis should be made on immunization coverage and if possible, advocacies should be formulated to decrease the age of measles vaccine administration.