All issues > Volume 33(11); 1990

Original Article

J Korean Pediatr Soc. 1990;33(11):1510-1515. Published online November 30, 1990.

Measles in Previously Vaccinated Children during Measles Epidemics.

Hwan Gyu Park¹, Jeong Wan Yoo¹, Soh Yeon Kim¹, Young Mo Shon¹, Sung Kyu Lee¹, Kyung Soon Song²

¹Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea
²Department of Clinical Pathology, College of Medicine, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea

Received: June 16, 1990;  Accepted: August 30, 1990.

Abstract

A clinical study was made on 98 cases of measles patients admitted to YoungDong Severance Hospital during the period of 7 months from June to December 1989. The patients with measles were evaluated for presence of measles specific IgM antibody in serum, clinical symptom and vaccination history. We obtained the following results: 1) Out of 98 patients, 62 patients (63.3%) were vaccinated children and 36 patients (36.7%) were unvaccinated children. Among them, measles specific IgM antibody were positive in 39 vaccinated children (62.9%) and 32 unvaccinated children (88.9%). 2) Among the measles patients, 31 patients (31.6%) were in the unvaccinated group age, that is, less than 15 months old, and 35 patients (37.5%) were in the school age group, that is greater than 6 years. 3) Among the 71 patients diagnosed serologically, 21 patients (29.6%) were negative in the clinical diagnostic criteria. 4) Complications of measles were pneumonia, otitis media and sinusitis in order of frequency and they were present in 60.2% of the patients. The complication rate was slightly higher in the unvac- cinated group than in the vaccinated group. In conclusion, primary vaccine failure seems to be the cause of measles during epidemics in more than 62.9% of the children. Thirty percent of patients positive for measles specific IgM antibody did not show typical symptoms of measles. Thus for the accurate evaluation of diagnosis of measles and efficacy of measles vaccination, not only should clinical symptoms be relied on but serologic tests should also be done.

Keywords :Measles, Measle$ Specific IgM Antibody, Vaccine Failure