New measles cases are steadily being recorded in Europe. According to the data published by the National Public Health Organization (EODY) of Greece, since the beginning of February, 1,861 new suspected and/or confirmed cases of measles have been reported from nine European Union countries, while 2,361 were reported throughout last year. cases.
The majority of this year's cases are found in Romania (1,737).
The remaining 124 confirmed cases were reported by Austria (27), Estonia (1), Germany ( 18), Greece (3), Hungary (6), Iceland (1), Ireland (1), Italy (59, 27 in 2024), and Portugal (6).
< p>This year, 4 measles-related deaths have been reported in the European Union.
Also, two confirmed cases of measles have been reported from Switzerland. A confluence of six confirmed cases in an international educational institution has been reported in the country.
Through the WHO/EURO regional office, confirmed cases of measles have also been reported, of which 40,299 were in countries outside the EU and mainly in Kazakhstan (13,662), Russia (10,954), Kyrgyzstan (5,486), Turkey (4,559), Azerbaijan (3,316), Uzbekistan (1,026), and Armenia (518).
Measles is a highly contagious viral disease that can affect people of any age, lead to complications, mainly from the digestive, respiratory and central nervous systems and even death. It is mainly transmitted airborne and less commonly from surfaces contaminated by nasal or pharyngeal secretions. The incubation period of the disease varies between 10-12 days, while from the exposure to the virus to the appearance of the rash it takes an average of 14 days. Patients are contagious from 4 days before the onset of the rash to 4 days after. The peak of transmission is placed from the onset of the precursor stage until 3-4 days after the appearance of the rash.
Travellers, children and adults, to countries with outbreaks are recommended to confirm their full vaccination with two doses of the mixed measles-rubella-mumps vaccine (MMR vaccine) before travel. As far as Europe is concerned, special caution is advised to travelers to Romania.
