More than 570 cases, and a first death. The measles epidemic raging in Berlin worries the authorities, who point out the importance of vaccination.
Measles claimed its first victim in Germany. An 18-month-old baby has died of this viral disease in a Berlin hospital. A primary school also closed its doors after the emergence of a persistent outbreak. City and state health authorities have sounded the alarm.
Asylum seekers
Measles infected 254 people in January alone. The trend is clearly towards acceleration, according to data from the Robert-Koch Institute. Since October, 570 cases have been listed in the German capital… including a large majority (62%) in the past 4 months. At the origin of this epidemic, asylum seekers from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, where vaccination coverage is extremely low.
In the United States, too, measles is growing dramatically. The country had yet officially eradicated the disease since 2000. The epidemic began at the beginning of the year at Disneyland. Since then, more than a hundred cases have been listed.
Anti-vaccinations implicated
On the other side of the Rhine as on the other side of the Atlantic, the anti-vaccination movement is singled out by the authorities. The “anti” use as support a 1998 study associating the MMR vaccine (Measles-Mumps-Rubella) and the risk of autism. But the work has since been refuted. Federal Minister of Health Hermann Gröhe denounced the actions of “some irresponsible people opposed to vaccines who sow irrational fear. US Senator Bill Allen, for his part, proposed that parents withdraw their right to refuse vaccination of their child.
It must be said that the situation is critical. In 2004, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had 37 cases. Ten years later, they reported 644. It is all the more important to be vaccinated as measles is extremely contagious. The virus is transmitted through the air, without physical contact. The disease most often causes a high fever, runny nose and cough, as well as a rash. But the more severe forms can lead to encephalitis and even death.
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