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Measles will be very dangerous if complications occur. The impact can cause severe diarrhea to death. Director of Immunization Management of the Ministry of Health Dr. Prima Yosephine, MKM said that what was feared from measles was complications.

Measles/CDC

“Complications for measles are generally severe. If measles affects a child who is malnourished, this child can immediately be accompanied by complications such as severe diarrhea, pneumonia, pneumonia, inflammation of the brain, infection in the lining of the eye which can lead to blindness. This is what we are worried about,” said Dr. Yosephine at a press conference on the progress of the measles case, Friday.

In general, symptoms of measles can include fever, cough, runny nose, watery eyes, then accompanied by the appearance of reddish spots on the skin. Usually appear 2 to 4 days after the initial symptoms.

Measles is caused by the measles virus and is transmitted through droplets, splashes of saliva when coughing, sneezing, talking, or through nasal secretions. And measles is a very contagious disease.

Prevention of measles can only be obtained from immunization, so immunization according to the schedule must be carried out so that children are protected from measles. The situation in Indonesia in the last 2 years or almost 3 years since the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has had bad implications for immunization coverage.

Immunization coverage has dropped significantly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused many children not to be immunized. Throughout 2022, Indonesia has 12 provinces that have issued extraordinary incident statements (KLB).

An area is called an outbreak if there are at least 2 cases of measles in that area which have been laboratory confirmed and these cases have an epidemiological relationship.

“During 2022, the number of measles cases in our country was indeed quite a lot, more than 3,341 case reports. These cases have spread to 223 regencies/cities in 31 provinces,” said Dr. Yosephine.

The number of these cases were obtained over a period of 1 year from January to December 2022. When compared to 2021 there was a significant increase of approximately 32 times.

The reason is because for 2 consecutive years Indonesia has not been able to reach the target for routine immunization services. So many children are not routinely immunized due to COVID-19.

The government is strengthening measles and rubella surveillance. So cases suspected of measles rubella, namely patients who have fever and rashes, must have specimens taken and examined in the laboratory.

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So strengthening surveillance is carried out by immediately finding suspected cases of measles rubella and immediately reporting them so that patients can be treated immediately and carry out further examinations.

“The government is targeting to eliminate measles and rubella in 2023 as soon as possible. Elimination is a situation where we can reduce the number of illnesses caused by measles to such an extent that it certainly won’t become a public health problem anymore. But with the increase in measles cases in our country, of course the dream of achieving this elimination will be rather difficult to be able to realize it this year,” said Dr. Yosephine.