Source:
https://www.metro1.com.br/noticias/...cao-bahia-liga-o-alerta-vermelho-para-sarampo
With 64 suspected cases and low adherence to vaccination, Bahia turns on the red alert for Measles
Previously eradicated in the country, the disease already has 17 confirmed cases in Brazil.
Article originally published in Jornal da Metropole on May 19, 2022
The Bahian warning signal is on and an old acquaintance is responsible: measles. Until the second week of May, 64 suspected cases were reported in the state. Of these, 26 are still under investigation. The signal becomes even redder when the number of people immunized against the disease is analyzed. In Salvador, for example, only 9% of the target audience of the vaccination campaign received the immunizer.
The cases under investigation in Bahia are divided into 16 municipalities. Among them, the ones with the highest concentration are Vitória da Conquista (3), Adustina (3) and Ibotirama (3). In the capital, there are no notifications of cases of the disease. But the warning signal is also on and calls for attention. For the immunization coordinator of the Municipal Health Department of Salvador (SMS), Doiane Lemos, the concern is that the disease arrives and settles in the capital in the face of low adherence to vaccination.
The current vaccination strategy is aimed at children and health workers, but only 25,700 (9%) professionals and 18,900 (9%) children were vaccinated. The goal was to immunize 95% of children aged 6 months to under 5 years.
Even those who are not part of this public can be immunized with the triple viral vaccine, which also protects against mumps and rubella. According to the immunization coordinator, the triple is available for the general population up to 49 years of age, in the 158 vaccination rooms in the capital of Bahia.
For Lemos, the low demand for the vaccine is related to the population's false sense of security and the lack of knowledge about the complications and the high contagion power of the disease. Infectologist Adriano Oliveira explains that the index that calculates the power of spreading measles is between 12 and 18, which means that an infected patient can infect up to 18 people. Covid, for example, has the ability to contaminate up to 3 people.
Due to the high contagion potential, measles usually manifests itself in the form of an epidemic. But the infectologist has no doubts that there is an effective way to protect himself and others against measles: the vaccine.
“For years, Brazil was proof that the vaccine is effective. But neighboring and European countries did not do their part and the disease was not extinguished. We received many imported cases, which did not spread because we were vaccinated. Now with the low adherence to the vaccine, we already have cases produced in Brazil”, warns the infectious disease specialist.
So far, the country has confirmed 17 cases in 2022, distributed in the states of São Paulo, Amapá and Roraima. The number represents a setback, since in 2016 the Pan American Health Organization had considered measles as an eradicated disease in the country.
According to the infectologist, the disease behaves like a cold. Transmission occurs through the air or surfaces contaminated by particles of infected respiratory secretions. The symptoms are also similar to those of a cold. According to Andrade, the first manifestations are sneezing, coughing and body aches, but the disease can progress to a sore throat and the famous redness of the skin. In cases that lead to death, the virus reaches the central nervous system or the lung, causing respiratory failure.
