Measles

The measles outbreak in Ukraine increased by 1,401 cases in the past week (560 adults and 841 children), bringing the total for the year to 21,894 (8,557 adults and 13,037 children) for the first 24 weeks of 2018.

Image/Robert Herriman
Image/Robert Herriman

Most of the cases have been reported from Lviv (only 3428 people: 1,042 adults and 2,286 children), Zakarpattya (only 2633 people: 475 adults and 2158 children), Ivano-Frankivsk (only 2,422 people: 698 adults and 1,724 children), Odesa (total 1880 people: 924 adults and 956 children), the city of Kiev (total 1560 people: 965 adults and 595 children) and Chernivtsi (only 1202 people: 398 adults and 804 children).

The measles death tally remains at 11 (seven children and four adults).

Ukrainian health officials encourage parents to ensure their children get vaccinated. As of June 14, 2018, there are 892,000 doses of vaccine in Ukraine, and further deliveries of the vaccine are expected.

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In addition, the MOH will start vaccination of adults in risk groups.

Diphtheria

The Ministry of Health is also reporting the second case of diphtheria this year in the Rubizhne Luhansk region. Health officials remind the public to ensure adults and children are vaccinated against this disease.

A high-quality and safe vaccine is available in all regions of Ukraine and is provided free of charge for both children and adults. At the same time, the level of vaccination against diphtheria remains low – only half of Ukrainian children were protected by the third dose of the vaccine of the AKD at the age of 18 months. last year, and less than half of adults.

The MOH reminds us of the last diphtheria epidemic in Ukraine from 1991 to 1998, which was caused by the low vaccine coverage of children and the lack of revaccination of adults, when some 20,000 people fell ill with diphtheria and 696 of them died.