The number of measles cases increased 2.7 times, when should children be taken to a medical facility?

203 cases of suspected measles rash fever have been recorded.

According to the Department of Preventive Medicine, Ministry of Health, up to now, the whole country has recorded 203 cases of rash fever suspected of measles, no deaths; the number of cases increased 2.7 times compared to the same period in 2023.

Last week, Hanoi also recorded its first measles case in 2024, while there were no cases recorded in the same period in 2023.

This case is a 10-year-old girl in Tien Phuong commune, Chuong My district, who has received 3 doses of measles vaccine. The patient started to have symptoms on March 27. On April 12, the patient's ELISA IgM measles and rubella test results were positive.

Measles is an acute infectious disease with symptoms of fever, rash, runny nose, cough, red eyes... if there is no immunity, it can cause an epidemic. The subjects susceptible to measles are usually young children and people with weak immunity.

At the recent national online conference on strengthening disease prevention and control organized by the Ministry of Health, Dr. Hoang Minh Duc, Director of the Department of Preventive Medicine, Ministry of Health, said that the measles vaccination rate in the expanded immunization program decreased during the COVID-19 epidemic, while measles is a highly contagious disease, the transmission of the disease in the community can only be stopped when a very high rate of specific protective immunity (>95%) is achieved in the community.

At the same time, Director Hoang Minh Duc also said that the World Health Organization warned of a global measles outbreak; in Vietnam, in the coming time, there may continue to be a number of new cases and outbreaks, especially in places with low vaccination rates in the past...

Therefore, according to Mr. Duc, to prevent diseases with preventive vaccines, it is necessary to strengthen the implementation of vaccination under the Expanded Immunization Program, ensuring safety and effectiveness, with special attention to diseases with vaccines but still having annual incidence rates such as measles, whooping cough, and diphtheria.

"Localities need to identify small outbreaks or areas with many scattered cases, based on which they can assess the vaccination rate through vaccination reporting software and investigate vaccination epidemiology to focus on promoting catch-up vaccination, catch-up vaccination, and full vaccination," emphasized Director Hoang Minh Duc.

Take the initiative to vaccinate children against measles as recommended.

Regarding the measles epidemic, in order to proactively implement disease prevention and control work, especially during the upcoming April 30 and May 1 holidays and the peak summer tourism season in 2024, when travel demand is high, on April 26, the Ministry of Health sent a document to the People's Committees of provinces and centrally run cities requesting continued attention and direction of disease prevention and control activities, in which the Ministry of Health noted that for diseases that are prevented by vaccines (measles, whooping cough, diphtheria, etc.), localities need to step up the implementation of the 2024 vaccination plan, carry out regular vaccination well for subjects under the Expanded Immunization Program; organize catch-up vaccinations and catch-up vaccinations for cases that have not been fully vaccinated.

At the same time, the Drug Administration of Vietnam - Ministry of Health also issued a document on ensuring medicine in the treatment and prevention of epidemics, requiring relevant units to absolutely not allow drug shortages to occur;

Focus on ensuring adequate supply of medicines for emergency work; medicines for disease prevention and treatment of diseases that commonly occur in the summer such as dengue fever, influenza A, hand, foot and mouth disease, measles, rubella, diarrhea caused by Rota virus, and diseases transmitted through the respiratory and digestive tracts.