A measles outbreak has been reported in the Canary Islands, three babies have fallen ill

Measles returns to the Canary Islands. The Ministry of Health recorded the first outbreak since at least 2017, with three infants and one adult affected and in good condition.

The Ministry of Health said this Friday in a statement that the index case is a girl who was not protected and insists “The importance of vaccination to avoid contracting and transmitting measles, a disease of which no new cases had been reported for many years and which was again present in our society when the outbreak was reported. According to health sources, this outbreak was discovered on the island of Tenerife.

The measles vaccine is given in two doses at 12 months and three years of age, and 95% of the Canary Islands population is properly vaccinated in the first year of life, the note highlights.

Very contagious

The Ministry of Health explains that measles “is a febrile exanthematous disease that begins with fever, nasal congestion, cough, and sometimes small erythematous spots with a whitish center may appear on the oral mucosa. The rash, which appears three to seven days after the onset of symptoms, begins on the face and spreads throughout the body. It is highly contagious and is transmitted through respiratory droplets or direct contact with infected people..

In 2017, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Spain free of endemic measles transmission due to the low number of detected cases and outbreaks. However, recently Cases have been reported in nine autonomous communities, and five of them, including the Canary Islands, have outbreaks.

adds Health in its statement.

Until the first week of May, there were 42 confirmed cases of measles in Spain, the health department adds.

The Canary Islands have recorded this outbreak with four confirmed cases: three children under two years of age and one adult. The General Directorate of Public Health has followed up more than 400 contacts. of affected people, check their vaccination status and inform them of measures to take if they begin to develop symptoms.

Of the three children affected, the index case had not been vaccinated, and two other minors had not yet been vaccinated due to their age, according to the Ministry of Health. And public health “insists that “The vaccine is the most effective means of preventing infection or transmission of disease.”