Measles cases rising
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and World Health Organization (WHO) have reported a significant increase in measles cases from various countries in 2019.
On 10 January, the CDC reported that 349 individual cases of measles were confirmed in 26 states and the District of Colombia during 2018 – the largest number of annual cases of the disease reported since it was eliminated in the US in 2000. According to the CDC, the majority of measles outbreaks in 2018 were associated with international travellers who brought the disease back from Israel, Italy, France and the UK. On 19 January, Clark County Washington Public Health officials confirmed 19 cases and five suspect cases during 2019.
PAHO reported a total of 16,039 confirmed measles cases, including 86 deaths, as of epidemiological week (EW) two of 2019, in 12 countries of the region of the Americas during 2018. It said that: between EW six of 2018 and EW two of 2019, Brazil reported a total of 10,274 confirmed cases, including 12 deaths; between EW 45 of 2018 and EW two of 2019, Chile reported 24 confirmed cases; and between EW 26 of 2017 and EW 52 of 2018, Venezuela reported 6,395 confirmed measles cases.
According to WHO, the total number of confirmed measles cases for 2018 exceeds the 12-month totals reported for every other year this decade. It reported that seven countries in the WHO European Region – France, Georgia, Greece, Italy, the Russian Federation, Serbia and Ukraine – have seen more than 1,000 infections this year.
Measles is a vaccine-preventable disease and, according to the CDC, at least 95 per cent immunisation coverage with two doses of measles-containing vaccine is needed every year, in every community to prevent measles outbreaks. The disease is highly infectious and is spread by airborne or droplet transmission. Travellers should ensure they are up to date with the measles, mumps and rubella vaccination as they may be at risk when visiting countries reporting cases.