MEASLES ALERT IN EUROPE: 69 DEATHS IN THE LAST TWO YEARS, THE SAME AS IN THE PREVIOUS 17

The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has made public the numbers of measles cases in Europe from December 1, 2017 to November 30, 2018 and are scary.

According to his report, there were 8,949 confirmed measles cases in the 30 countries analyzed and 34 of those affected died.

If we join them at 35 who had lost their lives due to the same disease in 2017, according to ECDC data, we find that Measles has caused the death of 69 people in just two years, the same as in the previous 17 years.

France, Greece and Italy, the most affected

In November 2018, the World Health Organization launched the alarm about the worldwide regrowth of a disease that was believed to be eradicated in a large number of countries thanks to vaccines.

According to the report released by WHO, the cases reported since 2016 increased by more than 30 percent worldwide, mainly in America, the eastern Mediterranean region and Europe.

In Babies and more The AEP advises vaccinating measles for children under one year of age who travel with extended stays to countries affected by the outbreak

In Europe, for example, measles cases quadrupled in 2017 (from 3,700 to more than 11,000 cases), with Ukraine, Romania and Italy being the most affected countries.

Now, the latest report on the incidence of the disease in our continent indicates France as the most affected countries in 2018 (2,921 cases); Greece (2,634), Italy (2,548) and United Kingdom (984).

And the situation is worrying in more countries: Of the 30 analyzed, only Belgium did not report any cases in 2018.

But if we take into account the number of inhabitants, it is Greece who is placed first as the most affected by the measles outbreak (244.6 cases per million inhabitants) followed by Slovakia (96.6), Romania (68, 5), France (43.6) and Italy (42).

Measles incidence in Europe by number of inhabitants

Source: ECDC

And the number of cases could still be higher in some countries. In the case of Romania, for example, the sustained outbreak in the country has caused delays in notification to the European agency and the most up-to-date data are only available at the Romanian National Institute of Public Health.

How do you explain this increase in measles?

Measles is a very contagious disease that, if complicated, can cause very serious sequelae, and even death. A single person can infect ten others who are not vaccinated. However, it is easy to prevent with vaccination.

The measles vaccine is part of the triple viral with rubella and mumps.

According to the AEP vaccine schedule, a first dose is administered between 12 and 15 months and a second recall dose between two and four years.

Now, the increase in the number of cases warns that universal vaccination is not being carried out in all countries, since according to the ECDC "80% of registered cases came from another European country " although it is not known with certainty what causes this lack of immunization in both poor and rich countries. And that universal non-immunization in a disease is what causes the outbreaks.

For that reason, although Spain has the 'measles-free' accreditation in 2017, we must not lower our guard to ensure that the counter does not increase.

In fact, according to the ECDC report, in 2018, 228 measles cases were registered in our country.

In Babies and more Anti-vaccine movements are the main cause of the measles outbreak in Europe, experts say

And the situation is universal: last December New York had to ask parents not to take their children to school before the disease outbreak and today there are 180 registered cases. But in addition, the disease has also appeared in other states of North America, such as New Jersey, Oregon and Washington, according to the New York Times.

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