Background: Measles is a contagious viral and vaccine-preventable disease that is continuing a public health problem. It is occurring as an outbreak not only in developing but also in developed countries.
Methods: A 1:2 ratios, unmatched case-control study was conducted from September 19/2016- October 08/2016 in Undufo Kebele, Gewane district, Northeastern Ethiopia. Both confirmed by laboratory and epidemiologically linked measles cases were involved. Controls were those who had no clinical signs of measles during the data collection period and residents of the same community where cases were identified. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. Nutritional status was measured using MUAC and the result decided based on the world health organization's nutritional categorization of children by MUAC. Data were entered into Epi-info 7 and analyzed using SPSS-21. Binary logistic regression was done to identify risk factors for measles infection with 95% confident level of Odds ratio.
Result: Fifty cases and 100 controls have participated in this investigation. Four out of five samples collected were positive for measles IgM antibody. There were three deaths reported. There was no vaccination history of cases and controls. The majority of cases were female and between 6–15 years of age. In multivariable analysis, malnutrition (AOR = 3.21; 95%CI 1.871,6.334), and contact history (AOR = 12.24; 95%CI 6.992,28.121) increased the risk of contracting measles infection.
Conclusion: children under 15-year age were more affected groups. The absence of vaccination in the area precipitated by a high rate of malnutrition was the main cause that aggravates the number of new infections. Contact history and malnutrition were the identified risk factors for measles infection. Therefore, increasing immunization coverage of more than 80%, and securing food security decrease the susceptibility of outbreak occurrence.