Many severe measles cases, still refusing to get vaccinated
Pregnant woman N.Y.V (27 years old, living in Ho Chi Minh City) was 26 weeks pregnant when she contracted measles. Initially, symptoms such as cough, fever, and fatigue made her think she just had a common illness, so she stayed home to monitor herself. Four days later, when red spots began to appear on her body, she was admitted to the hospital. However, at this time, the patient had developed complications of pneumonia and had to be put on a ventilator.
Since last August, the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Ho Chi Minh City has started to receive cases of adults with measles. In the past month, the number of measles cases has been increasing. Currently, the hospital is treating more than 900 measles patients, of which adults account for about 75%.
Dr. Truong Thi Hong Lan, Head of Internal Medicine A, Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases, said that most of the hospitalized patients were in serious condition and needed oxygen. Measles, whether in adults or children, is spread mainly through the respiratory tract and contact with secretions. Therefore, prevention such as wearing masks, washing hands regularly, and especially vaccination are very important. Currently, many adults often do not know or forget their vaccination history. Therefore, it is necessary to get at least one dose of measles vaccine to reduce the risk of getting the disease during an outbreak.
Having never been vaccinated against measles, a 4-year-old patient (male, HCMC) was admitted to Children's Hospital 1 (HCMC) with a persistent cough and was diagnosed with complications of pneumonia due to measles.
According to Dr. Du Tuan Quy - Head of the Department of Infectious Diseases and Neurology at Children's Hospital 1, this is not the only case where parents object to measles vaccination. In the department, most of the children have not been vaccinated or have not received 2 doses.
In addition, many parents are against vaccines because they are afraid that their children will have side effects after vaccination, such as autism. Some parents, especially in rural areas, also have the misconception that measles is a mild disease and does not require vaccination.
Dr. Vo Thanh Luan - Deputy Head of the Department of Infectious Diseases and COVID-19 Intensive Care at Children's Hospital 2 - said that the unit received many children with measles who had to be treated intensively, even in severe cases requiring mechanical ventilation or dialysis. Through exploiting the vaccination history, most children hospitalized with measles complications were not vaccinated. The unit has not recorded any cases of measles and hospitalization due to severe complications who had been fully vaccinated against measles.
According to statistics from the Ho Chi Minh City Center for Disease Control (HCDC), in week 50 (December 9-15), the city recorded 373 measles cases, an increase of 29% compared to the average of the previous 4 weeks. The total number of measles cases accumulated from the beginning of 2024 to week 50 is 3,189 cases. Districts with high numbers of cases include Binh Chanh district, Binh Tan district and Thu Duc city.
Risk of disease if not vaccinated
Dr. Nguyen Luong Tam - Deputy Director of the Department of Preventive Medicine (Ministry of Health) - said that in the 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the vaccination rate has decreased sharply, and recently there has been a lack of measles-rubella vaccine in the expanded immunization program, so the vaccination rate is low, leading to low community immunity and when there is an epidemic, it is easy to break out. The Ministry of Health has launched a campaign to review, organize catch-up vaccinations, and collect vaccines for children who have not been vaccinated against measles. However, there are still some provinces and cities that have not implemented the campaign on schedule.
Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Dac Phu - former Director of the Department of Preventive Medicine (Ministry of Health) - said that although 90% of children have been vaccinated against measles, 10% have not been vaccinated, 170,000 children have not been vaccinated in 1 year, nearly 1 million children have not been vaccinated in 5 years. This number is very large, if there is a source of infection, an epidemic will break out.
"The most important thing is to vaccinate those who have not been vaccinated against measles to prevent the disease. In addition, adults who have not been vaccinated against measles or have not had measles must also be vaccinated," Associate Professor Phu emphasized.
Associate Professor Phu said that many families not vaccinating their children could pose a serious risk to public health. Thanks to vaccines, we have eliminated many diseases such as smallpox, polio and tetanus. The number of cases of diseases in the expanded immunization program has decreased by hundreds, even thousands of times. However, lack of or incomplete vaccination can lead to outbreaks of diseases such as Japanese encephalitis B, measles and many others. Therefore, it is very important to vaccinate all types of vaccines as recommended, on schedule and in the right doses.
According to the Ministry of Health, since the beginning of the year, the country has recorded more than 20,000 suspected measles cases, of which nearly 5,000 were positive and 5 deaths (3 in Ho Chi Minh City, 1 in Ben Tre and Binh Duong each). Compared to the same period in 2023, the number of suspected measles cases increased 52.9 times, and the number of positive cases increased 111 times. In particular, many children under the age of vaccination have contracted the disease. Localities with high numbers of measles cases include: Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai, Nghe An, Dak Lak, Binh Duong, Hanoi, Khanh Hoa, Thanh Hoa, Kien Giang, Can Tho and Dong Thap.
