Mexico will carry out intensive vaccination against measles because this April it confirmed the first case of this disease in the country in 2024, four years after the 2020 national outbreak and two months after the alert was reactivated in the Americas, where measles was declared eradicated in 2016.
Given the first confirmed case, the Mexican Ministry of Health (SSA) called on all medical units to report all probable cases of measles and rubella, to take samples from all probable patients, and to carry out intensive vaccination of the following nine groups:
In the peridomicile of each probable case of measles and rubella.
- In high-risk municipalities.
- In municipalities, there are corridors of migrant population within the country.
- In the border municipalities of the country.
- One-year-old babies: a first dose of measles, rubella, and mumps (MMR) vaccine.
- Children 18 months of age: a second dose of MMR vaccine. Or, if applicable, one month after receiving the first dose.
- Minors close to turning six years of age: a second dose of the MMR vaccine.
- Children under 10 years of age who have not received the first, second, or both doses of the vaccine.
If available, the MMR vaccine can be given to people between 10 and 19 years of age.
In its Epidemiological Bulletin for week 13 (March 24 to 30) of 2024, published this Monday, April 8, the SSA specifies that the first confirmed case of measles is a child (man) four years and eight months old, without vaccination history.
Likewise, the SSA claims that it is an imported case, not indigenous. It was detected as a probable case on March 14, 2024, in Mexico City, on a flight from London, United Kingdom. Samples were taken for measles and rubella tests. The Institute of Epidemiological Diagnosis and Reference (Indre) declared it a confirmed case of measles.
In compliance with the International Health Regulations (IHR), Mexico notified the confirmed case of measles to the World Health Organization (WHO), of the United Kingdom (the country of origin of the flight) and the countries of the passengers who flew together with the minor.
In 2021, 1,403 probable cases of measles or rubella were reported; In 2022 there were 2,536 probable cases and in 2023 2,208 probable cases were reported. None were confirmed cases in these three years, says the SSA in its Epidemiological Bulletin of April 2024.
Measles is a highly contagious viral disease that mainly affects children, reports the WHO, and is transmitted by droplets from the nose, mouth, and pharynx of infected people. Between 8 and 12 days after infection, the first symptoms appear as high fever, rhinorrhea (runny nose), conjunctival injection, and small white spots on the inside of the cheek. Days later, a rash appears that begins on the face and neck, and gradually spreads to the rest of the body.
TYT Newsroom
