THE IMPACT OF VACCINATION STATUS ON THE CLINICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF MEASLES COURSE

Measles is a dangerous and highly contagious viral disease with a tendency to spread rapidly. The incidence of measles is cyclical with outbreaks occurring every 5-6 years and is directly related to the level of vaccination against the disease. Measles can become severe clinical course and have serious, sometimes fatal consequences. The purpose of the study is to compare the clinical course of measles depending on the vaccination status of patients. We analysed medical records of 218 patients aged 18 to 55 years who were inpatients with a diagnosis of measles at the Poltava Regional Clinical Infectious Diseases Hospital. The clinical features of measles were compared based on vaccine status using descriptive statistics methods in accordance with the analysis requirements. Comparison of the clinical course of the disease depending on vaccination status did not reveal a statistically significant difference in clinical symptoms between the groups of vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals. However, in the group of unvaccinated patients, a severe course of measles was significantly more often observed compared to those who were vaccinated (p = 0.003). The incidence of complications was studied and found to be lower in vaccinated individuals than in non-immune patients (p = 0.051), specifically pneumonia (p = 0.006). No cases of complications such as measles encephalitis and enterocolitis were recorded among vaccinated individuals. Thus, the course of the disease was characterised by typical clinical signs with a predominance of intoxication syndrome, the appearance of a typical rash, its stages, the presence of catarrhal and, less often, intestinal syndromes. It was found that vaccinated individuals had significantly less frequent severe measles, and the incidence of complications, including pneumonia, was was significantly lower than in unvaccinated patients.