Number of measles cases increased tenfold

By the beginning of September already 1542 infections with measles

24/09/2013

More and more people are suffering from measles. According to the Federal Ministry of Health, 1542 measles infections were registered by September alone, which is a tenfold increase on the previous year. The reason for the increasing number of measles cases, many experts see especially in the declining vaccinations.

About 40% of cases aged 20 years and older
Again and again, there has been a decline in vaccination readiness in recent months, which means that not only an increasing number of children, but also increasingly adults, are not protected from the highly contagious measles disease. As a result, this is spreading rapidly and leading to an increasing number of cases of illness, which since 2001 by the „Infection Protection Act“ (§6 IfSG) are notifiable. As reported by the Federal Ministry of Health (BMfG), 1542 measles infections are already registered by September of this year alone. This occurred about „40% of this year's measles cases were in patients aged 20 years and older, and 30% of all measles cases were treated in hospital. The majority of cases with known vaccination status were unvaccinated (86%), 104 patients were vaccinated only once or too late“, the information of the BMfG continues.

Bavaria has the most infections
This represents a tenfold increase on the previous year's figure, as in 2012, according to the ministry, there were only 165 reported cases of measles. „Hochburg“ The contagion this year is the Free State of Bavaria with 760 cases, followed by Berlin (487 diseases) and North Rhine-Westphalia (122). The most recent measles outbreak is just a week back: in Jena, the measles had broken out in a community school, there are now, according to the Jena city council ten confirmed cases, including eight children and two adults.

Numbers vary considerably
However, the comparison between the years is not quite as easy as it seems at first glance, because the numbers fluctuate considerably. In 2006 and 2011, for example, there were 2300 and 1608 reported cases, in 2010, however „just“ about 780 reported measles diseases. However, according to the Federal Ministry of Health, the absolute leader was the year 2001, in which even more than 6,000 cases became known. How is such a fluctuation? "There is no such thing as a really good explanation," says Susanne Glasmacher from the Robert Koch Institute. In her opinion, it is possible that many people in a region are immune to an outbreak and thus the numbers fall.

Minister of Health Bahr announces measures to increase the vaccination rate
Already for months in the course of increasing measles cases over a general compulsory vaccination for children is discussed. Health Minister Daniel Bahr (FDP) recently announced plans to implement a series of measures to increase the vaccination rate. In addition to providing more financial support for education, the vaccination status of children is to be surveyed, among other things, when children are being taken to nurseries or kindergartens. Until now, this had only been checked before enrollment. So far, a vaccine for children between the eleventh and 23 months of life is recommended, for a sufficient measles protection but a double vaccine is needed. (No)

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