Argentina: Buenos Aires measles update
In a follow-up in the measles outbreak in the city and now also the province of Buenos Aires, to date, six cases of measles have been confirmed by laboratory in CABA and two cases in Florencio Varela, Province of Buenos Aires, where one of them is confirmed by laboratory and the second by epidemiological link.
In the City of Buenos Aires, five of the cases live in apartments of the same horizontal property and the remaining case lives 100 meters away from the place. Meanwhile, of the cases residing in Buenos Aires territory, the first one works near where the other cases occurred and the second is a close relative.
Since the appearance of the first case of measles in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, confirmed on February 1, the Ministry of Health began a coordination effort with the jurisdictions, through the National and Provincial Epidemiology Directorates, to monitor and provide technical assistance to their teams to contain the outbreak and study and follow up on confirmed cases.
The actions carried out by the different jurisdictions involved according to the residence of the contacts include clinical monitoring, search for susceptible individuals, vaccination actions or indication of gammaglobulin, epidemiological investigation and case control.
Likewise, the technical teams of the Epidemiology and Immunopreventable Diseases Directorates of the Nation are in permanent contact with the representatives of the Epidemiology Directorate and the Expanded Immunization Program (PAI) of CABA and the Province of Buenos Aires to analyze the outbreak and the transmission chains, accompany the actions that are carried out and provide advice on case monitoring and vaccination actions.
With the start of the school year and of sports, recreational and social activities, close contact between children, adolescents and adults, and the movement of the population, increases. This constitutes a scenario that facilitates the spread of the measles virus in the community. For this reason, it is important to reinforce prevention and care measures, consult the health system when symptoms compatible with the disease appear and check that vaccination schedules are up to date.
Measles is an acute, potentially serious and extremely contagious viral disease. It spreads primarily through the respiratory route, from person to person, and through contact with contaminated surfaces. The virus, present both in the air and on surfaces, remains contagious for two hours.
Symptoms of the disease include high fever, runny nose, conjunctivitis, catarrhal cough, rash on the face and neck, which spreads to the rest of the body, and the appearance of small white spots on the inside of the cheek. Complications may include pneumonia, convulsions, meningoencephalitis and blindness.
Thanks to sustained vaccination, Argentina interrupted the endemic circulation of measles in 2000. Since then, short outbreaks have been recorded, without losing elimination status. However, as long as measles continues to circulate in other countries, and given the decrease in vaccination coverage, Argentina presents a high risk of imported cases and the development of outbreaks.
In this regard, and taking into account that vaccination is the most effective measure to prevent measles, it is important to review the vaccination schedule and complete the vaccination schedules according to age.
Wear your fruit. We need everyone to put fruit in their avatars to achieve community immunity.