First cases identified since 2020

Health Ministry steps up measles surveillance after find that there is a rebound in other countries, where vaccination is less widespread, they reach other parts of the state. In Galicia, no cases have been detected since 2020, and two have been detected this year. Specifically in the Lugo area: one was imported, and the second was infected by the first.

The head of the Communicable Disease Control Service, Susana Miras, calls for calm but emphasizes the fact that measles is “a disease that needs to be eliminated” and, therefore, measures to prevent this phenomenon have been strengthened.

For this reason, the General Directorate of Public Health decided to send an SMS to the address families of children who are expected to receive vaccine doses. It was found that years later, when coverage approached the 95% established by the World Health Organization, it decreased among minors born in 2019 to 92.9%, and among those born in 2020 to 89.9%.

This is happening against the backdrop of a general increase in the incidence of the disease “at the global and European level”, especially in countries with lower vaccination rates, as explained in Europe Press Susana Miras: So Sanidade has only identified two cases in 2024, but they are the first in four years. “But there is no alarming situation,” he adds.

In other autonomous regions, “several more cases” are linked to foreign citizens coming to work as seasonal workers, says the head of the Infectious Disease Control Service.