While on February 8, the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regional Health Agency (ARS) reported 18 cases of measles in the Val Thorens ski resort (Savoie), the Minister of Health Agnès Buzyn announced that the number of patients had now risen to 24. This Tuesday, February 12 on France Intershe said it was “young people, unvaccinated, born after the 1980s, so who have not been in contact with the virus before”. In a press releasethe ARS specifies that the people affected are mainly seasonal workers, residing in the station.
Recrudescence of the disease
“This resurgence of measles in the region testifies to an increasingly important circulation of the virus due to insufficient vaccination coverage”, worries the agency. The latter invites “Anyone to check the vaccination of their children and their own vaccination if they have never had measles”and declares to have “took steps to find all the people” who may have been in contact with the virus, in order to limit its spread. A report that comes as the World Health Organization (WHO) has just published its 2018 figures concerning the pathology. The number of cases in Europe would have multiplied by 15 between 2016 and 2018.
And France is not spared by this phenomenon. According to the latest epidemiological bulletin from Public Health France concerning pathology, published in November 2018, the measles is on the rise in the country. Last year, 2,727 cases were recorded by the agency. Among those affected, 89% were not vaccinated or had not received the recommended two doses of vaccine before the age of 18 months. Three people even died.
Vaccination, the only way to protect yourself
However, vaccination is the only way to protect yourself from measles, potentially serious and highly contagious. There is no cure for it, but “vaccination carried out within 72 hours of contact with a case can prevent the onset of the disease”, recalls the ARS. To eliminate the disease, at least 95% of the population would need to have received two doses of the vaccine. However, for the moment, the vaccination coverage of French infants was lower than this figure, with only 79% concerned by the two doses.
However, since January 1, 2018, this vaccination has become mandatory for all infants. The first dose will be given at 12 months of age, and another between 16 and 18 months. Health authorities also recommend “catch-up vaccination” for all children and young adults born since 1980.
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