In Romania, from January 1, 2023 to April 21, 2024, more than 13,000 cases of measles were registered. Deaths were also recorded among those sick with measles.
From January 1 to April 21, more than 13,000 cases of measles were registered
Over 13,000 infections were recorded between January 1, 2023 and April 21, 2024, with weekly reports. Unfortunately, deaths have also occurred. The last death was recorded in the week of April 14-April 21. A person died with comorbidities, who had HIV acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, tuberculosis, hepatitis B and an impaired general condition.
History of measles vaccination in this and previous cases is important. This week is dedicated to vaccination by the WHO European Region. It is essential to recall the benefits, necessity and safety of vaccination for vaccines for which there is a vaccination schedule.
Romania is in a favorable situation compared to many other countries. Romania has a national vaccination program that covers most of the necessary vaccines, both in terms of serums and administration through family doctors.
Vaccination coverage has declined internationally
Internationally, the vaccination coverage rate decreased from 86% (2019) to 81% (2021). At the national level, however, it is slightly above 80% of the general population. The drop in vaccination rates worries medical experts. Some parents, for example, refuse to vaccinate their children.
“As a coverage rate, we are a little over 80% of the general population, but we have to say that in 1990 Romania was one of the champion states of vaccination, almost 97%.
The decrease in the vaccination rate is the indicator that worries us. In the general population we have more and more people who refuse vaccination and what is again worrying is that some of these people are the ones who cannot decide for themselves.
We are talking about the situation of children whose parents, although they come from vaccinated cohorts that benefited from vaccine protection in their childhood and adult life, are in a position to refuse this benefit for the children.
And this is worrying because these children become a vector, they become a source of the virus, they become a source for various outbreaks and thus we can find ourselves in the situation of a regional epidemic, such as the measles epidemic situation in Romania”, said Ioana Stăncel, health expert public, in an interview granted to Medika TV.
14 people lost their lives due to measles
According to the latest report of the National Institute of Public Health, between January 1, 2023 and April 21, 2024, 13,113 confirmed cases of measles and 14 deaths associated with this disease were registered in Romania. The distribution of deaths is as follows: 4 in Brașov County, 4 in Bucharest City, 2 in Argeș County, 2 in Giurgiu County, 1 in Mureș County and 1 in Sibiu County.
The 14th death was recorded in Giurgiu county and affected a 34-year-old woman. The woman had no history of measles vaccination and had the following comorbidities: HIV/AIDS class C3 infection, pulmonary tuberculosis, chronic HBV hepatitis and cachexia.
