Germany measles cases increasing

End of the measles wave in Germany not in sight

03/29/2015

For months, Berlin has been hit by a severe wave of measles, an end is not yet in sight. Now, the measles infections in Thuringia have skyrocketed. The implants in the population are to be closed.

No end to the measles wave in sight
There is still no end to the measles wave in Berlin. At the State Office for Health and Social Affairs (LaGeSo), a total of 925 cases since the beginning of the outbreak in autumn have been reported by Friday. As the news agency dpa reports, LaGeSo spokeswoman Silvia Kostner said: „For the first time in a long time we only had nine new cases from one day to the next.“ Even if the daily gains at the beginning of the week were sometimes more than 20, it was too early to speak of a decay of the wave.

Measles outbreak at a school
Now it became known that it looks bad in Thuringia. There, the number of measles infections rose suddenly leaps and bounds. The Ministry of Health in Erfurt announced that by Friday, 52 measles cases in the Free State have become known. The reason for the strong increase lies in the measles outbreak at a school in Erfurt. According to the information available, only 36 pupils aged 7 to 15 had contracted there since the end of February. Last week, Saxony also reported a rising number of measles.

Parents can get vaccinated at the pediatrician
The measles wave in the capital has been going on for months now. That's why parents can now vaccinate against measles at the pediatrician. It was also announced that gynecologists could also vaccinate accompanying men. It is said that it is so uncomplicated to pick people in the population. In February, an infant in Berlin had died as a result of the infection. About a quarter of the patients in the capital had to be treated in a hospital.

Illness can have life-threatening consequences
Measles are still dismissed by some people as a harmless childhood disease. However, an infection can also lead to complications such as otitis media or pneumonia in adults and sometimes have life-threatening consequences such as meningitis. According to health experts, the risk of complications is particularly high in infants and toddlers in the first year of life and in adults over 20 years. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a stable vaccination rate of 95 percent of the population would be needed to eliminate the infectious disease. However, according to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Germany is still a long way from this goal. (Ad)