A recent measles outbreak caused by importation in the China-Myanmar border region necessitated outbreak response immunization, raising the question of measles immunity in the area. The researchers performed two measles serological surveys in order to create a seroepidemiological profile of local Chinese people and registered Myanmar immigrants in order to explore methods for measles eradication in the border region. To evaluate immunity to measles, serum samples were examined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. They discovered that Myanmar immigrants had an 85.3 percent seropositivity rate with a GMT of 924.9 mIU/ml, whereas Lincang Chinese nationals had a seropositivity rate of 94.6 percent with a GMT of 1363.3 mIU/ml. Myanmar children aged 2–6 years and 7–14 years were more likely to contract measles than Chinese children of the same age: odds ratios of 23.00 and 7.95, respectively.
The study suggests a catch-up immunization program for Myanmar children aged 15 and up.
Reference: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21645515.2019.1673641
