On October 16, the Thanh Hoa Province Center for Disease Control said that the number of suspected measles rash fever cases in Thanh Hoa has increased dramatically, 5.3 times higher than the same period last year. The risk of an outbreak is very high if proactive disease prevention measures are not implemented drastically.
Accordingly, cumulatively up to week 40 of 2024 in Thanh Hoa recorded 215 cases of measles and suspected measles in 26/27 districts/towns/cities.
In the province, community outbreaks were recorded in Sam Son City; Thuong Xuan District; Thanh Hoa Children's Hospital (42 cases with epidemiological examination and treatment); 3 cases with epidemiological examination and treatment at Tri Duc Thanh General Hospital. Measles cases were mainly 1-5 years old (accounting for 47%); under 9 months old (accounting for 21%). Most of the cases were children who had not been vaccinated or had an unknown vaccination history with measles-containing vaccines.
In general, the number of measles cases in Thanh Hoa province has increased sharply since mid-September. In the past 3 weeks alone, there were 107 cases of measles and suspected measles in Thanh Hoa province, accounting for more than 50% of the total number of cases in 28 provinces and cities in the Northern region.
In addition, Thanh Hoa has recorded an outbreak in the community, and may face the risk of an increase in the number of cases in groups of children who have not had access to measles-containing vaccines; new cases may decrease after completing the MR vaccination campaign for children aged 1-5 and 6-10 in the province in October 2024.
To strengthen epidemic prevention and control, Thanh Hoa Provincial Center for Disease Control has advised the Department of Health and directed units to implement measles prevention and control work according to regulations of the Ministry of Health.
The health sector recommends that parents promptly take their children to get all the vaccines in the expanded immunization program at commune, ward, and town health stations. In addition, when parents see their children showing signs of fever accompanied by upper respiratory tract infection, conjunctivitis, etc., they should take their children to the hospital for early diagnosis and treatment.
Dr. Le Hong Son - Head of the Department of Infectious Disease Prevention, Thanh Hoa Province Center for Disease Control - said: Measles is an infectious disease caused by a virus. The disease is transmitted through the respiratory tract, by nasal and throat secretions of an infected person released into the air when the patient coughs, sneezes or talks.
The results of the vaccination review in the past 5 years (2019-2024) show that there is an immune gap due to children not having access to vaccines for a long time; cross-infection prevention at treatment facilities is not guaranteed, which is the reason for the increase in cases in recent times.
