Epidemiological Status and Related Factors of Measles in Changzhou City from 1984-2008

Objective To analyze the epidemiological characteristics and related factors of measles in Changzhou City ,and to explore effective measures to improve the measles elimination strategy. Methods Measles epidemic data from 1984 to 2008 and measles surveillance data of the past five years were collected from routine report system for infectious disease and measles surveillance system ,and studied retrospectively. Results The measles incidence rate were below 3/100 000 from 1987 to 2004. New measles incidence peak emerged in 2005,2007,2008 respectively. The morbidity of males to females was 1.22:1 from 2 845 measles patients. The distribution of cases was between the 15-27th calendar weeks. The largest number of cases occurred in Wujin and Tianning district. Of all cases,1 917 patients reported as unvaccinated accounted for 67.38% and 1 640 patients of floating population accounted 57.64%. Conclusion The comprehensive measure including sensitive measles surveillance,high-quality management of measles and routine vaccine inoculation is an effective way to eliminate measles in Changzhou.