Measles incidence is steadily increasing in Europe: “The situation is under control in Spain, but we must not let our guard down”

Cases measlesTheir numbers continue to rise across Europe, and this year’s figure will soon exceed the total for all of 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF recently warned. According to the latest available data, within three In the first months of 2024, 56,634 cases and four deaths were officially recorded. in 45 of the 53 countries in the WHO European Region. During 2023, 41 countries reported 61,070 cases and 13 deaths.

Nearly half of the cases reported in 2023 occurred in children under five years of age. What is it about? “During the pandemic, many areas of business were paralyzed. Health systems To respond to the virulence of covid, and this has led to the paralysis of vaccination schedules in some countries,” explains Rebecca Jonsson, expert on global health and child health at UNICEF Spain, to El Periódico de España from the same editorial team. like this newspaper. That is, there is a cluster of boys and girls who did not receive a routine measles vaccination and other diseases that can be prevented by immunization during a pandemic. In fact, among children under five who contracted the disease last year, more than three-quarters did not receive any dose.

“In order for there to exist what we usually call herd immunity, It is necessary that 95% of the population have a full regime,” says the specialist. There are countries that were unable to restore the rhythm before the emergence of coronavirus, and the data shows this, because there are already outbreaks in 27 of the 33 member countries of the WHO European Region in which the organization has confirmed the elimination of endemic circulating measles. . These countries may be at risk will lose their status if current measles virus circulation continues for more than 12 months. These are: Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan and Romania, the first of which recorded 36,292 cases in total last year.

Spain without visible risk

Economic growth is putting disease on the table again, but not in Spain as it one of the countries that manages to avoid local cases causing virus, and all reported viruses (58 last year) were imported. This happened thanks to the vaccination strategy, which is why they insist on maintaining it: “We must continue to convey the message to the population that vaccines work and are safe,” he points out.

The disease has a devastating impact on children’s health, with the youngest at greatest risk of serious complications. high rates of hospitalization and prolonged weakening of the immune system. boys and girls makes them more vulnerable to other infectious diseases. More than half of the people infected with measles in the WHO European Region in 2023 were hospitalized, demonstrating the significant burden it places on individuals, families and health systems.

“The first dose is only given at 12 months, so if a child comes into contact with someone who tests positive, they will most likely become infected because it is one of the most contagious diseases that exist,” says Jonsson. To prevent further growth of measles, UNICEF points out that the most powerful weapon is to deliver the vaccine to all those countries that need it and do not have the resources for it, but it is worth not only helping with the purchase, “It is necessary to facilitate the logistics, because they must be in refrigerators, and there are states where there is no electricity,” he adds.