Attenuated Measles Vaccine in Nigerian Children

Introduction  That measles and its complications are of major importance as causes of morbidity and mortality in Nigeria has been emphasized by recent studies.¹ Those factors which seem to underlie the unusual severity of the disease are the occurrence of annual epidemics with a resultant lowering of the mean age incidence to 15 months, the extremely high rate of pyogenic complications involving the skin and respiratory tract, and the frequency of stomatitis and diarrhea inducing dehydration. In Nigeria, measles is the acute infection most likely to precipitate acute kwashiorkor. Over the last 5 years an investigation into the morbidity and mortality among children under the age of 5 years has been conducted at the Wesley Guild Hospital in Ilesha, Western Nigeria. Of the acute infective fevers, measles was found to be outstanding as a cause of death. Because of this experience, a trial of attenuated measles-virus vaccine seemed highly