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Abstract

Background: Infectious diseases are a great challenge to the health of children globally. This paper provides an epidemiological scenario and patterns of these diseases among children in the Hilla Babylon Governorate, Iraq, and specifically, the re-emergence of meals.

Methods: The retrospective study was carried out on 7851 medical records of children aged below 15 years between the period of January 1, 2022 and December 31, 2024. The registry of Babylon Maternity and Children Hospital was used to extract data. Data were analyzed in terms of trends and distributions by age, sex and time using descriptive statistics and inferential tests.

Results: Droplet and airborne mode of infection were responsible of a huge percentage (89.1, n=6998). The most common one was pneumonia (59.3, n=4659), and then measles (21.0, n=1651). The dramatic resurgence of measles was recorded, and in 2022, there were zero cases, and in 2023, the rates were 344 and in 2024, 1,307. Foodborne infections 10.1% (n=795) were mainly hepatitis A (98.4% of foodborne infections). Significant differences in the age and sex distributions of particular diseases were found to be statistically significant. Younger children (years) had more pneumonia, pertussis, and viral meningitis whereas older children (5-9 years) had Hepatitis A. Pneumonia and viral meningitis had a high male predominance whereas pertussis was more prevalent in females.

Conclusion: Respiratory-borne diseases and especially pneumonia and measles have the greatest burden of communicable disease among children in this region. The disastrous revival of measles points to the existence of severe gaps in immunization coverage and preparedness to the outbreaks. The interventions in the field of public health should be focused on the reinforcement of a routine and catch-up vaccination campaign, the improvement of respiratory infections control, and the improvement of sanitation and hygiene measures directed at high-risk age groups.

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