Abstract
Seven hundred and seventeen children suffering from measles, comprising 2·4% of total admissions were seen at Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health from 21st March, 1983 to 20th March, 1985. Three hundred and seventy three children (52%) of them were under 2 years of age of which 111 were below one year of age. All the children except 41 had one or more than one complications. Bronchopneumonia was commonest (69·9%) followed by diarrhea (34·8%), layringitis (12·1%), conjunctivitis (7·5%) etc. Overall mortality was high, as 104 (14·5%) children died. Mortality under one year of age accounted for 21·6% of total deaths. Deaths amongst children with severe protein energy malnutrition (Grades III and IV) was very high as 90 of 199 (45·2%) children died. It was also observed that mortality among these children increased significantly with increasing severity of malnutrition. It is strongly recommended that measles vaccination should be undertaken between 6–8 months of age wherever measles is common under one year of age.
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Choudhry, V.P., Atmar, M., Amin, I. et al. Effect of protein energy malnutrition on the immediate outcome of measles. Indian J Pediatr 54, 717–722 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02751286
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02751286