PropertyValue
?:abstract
  • BACKGROUND: The pandemic of COVID-19 has occurred close on the heels of a global resurgence of measles. In 2019, an unprecedented epidemic of measles affected Samoa, requiring a state of emergency to be declared. Measles causes an immune amnesia which can persist for over 2 years after acute infection and increases the risk of a range of other infections. METHODS: We modelled the potential impact of measles-induced immune amnesia on a COVID-19 epidemic in Samoa using data on measles incidence in 2018–2019, population data and a hypothetical COVID-19 epidemic. RESULTS: The young population structure and contact matrix in Samoa results in the most transmission occurring in young people < 20 years old. The highest rate of death is the 60+ years old, but a smaller peak in death may occur in younger people, with more than 15% of total deaths in the age group under 20 years old. Measles induced immune amnesia could increase the total number of cases by 8% and deaths by more than 2%. CONCLUSIONS: Samoa, which had large measles epidemics in 2019–2020 should focus on rapidly achieving high rates of measles vaccination and enhanced surveillance for COVID-19, as the impact may be more severe due to measles-induced immune paresis. This applies to other severely measles-affected countries in the Pacific, Europe and elsewhere.
?:creator
?:doi
  • 10.1186/s12879-020-05469-7
?:doi
?:journal
  • BMC_Infect_Dis
?:license
  • cc-by
?:pdf_json_files
  • document_parses/pdf_json/066756792604af67331ca7ffbdff635c3c89d8fc.json
?:pmc_json_files
  • document_parses/pmc_json/PMC7539273.xml.json
?:pmcid
?:pmid
?:pmid
  • 33028283.0
?:publication_isRelatedTo_Disease
?:sha_id
?:source
  • Medline; PMC
?:title
  • The potential impact of a recent measles epidemic on COVID-19 in Samoa
?:type
?:year
  • 2020-10-07

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