Brazilian health officials are reporting (computer translated) two outbreaks of measles, in Roraima and Amazonas states. The outbreaks are imported cases, officials say, pointing to the genotype of the virus (D8) that was identified, which is the same that circulates in Venezuela.
As of July 17, 444 cases of measles had been confirmed in Amazonas, while in the state of Roraima, 216 cases of the disease were confirmed. In addition, some isolated and import-related cases were identified in the states of São Paulo (1), Rio Grande do Sul (8); and Rondônia (1). To date, Rio de Janeiro has officially informed the Ministry of Health of 7 confirmed cases.
In 2016, Brazil received the certificate of elimination of measles virus circulation from the Pan American Health Organization and is currently undertaking efforts to maintain the certificate, stop outbreaks and prevent sustained transmission.
The Ministry of Health offers free vaccines for measles, measles, mumps and measles (measles, rubella, mumps and chickenpox) to all states. Vaccines are part of the National Vaccination Calendar and are available year-round at health clinics throughout the country.
At the moment, the Ministry of Health is intensifying the vaccination of children, the public more susceptible to the disease. However, unvaccinated adults should receive the vaccine primarily in places where there is an outbreak of the disease, as in Roraima and Manaus (AM). People who have already completed the regimen, as recommended for their age group, do not need to receive the vaccine again.
Children:
- 12 months to children under 5 years of age: one dose at 12 months (triple viral) and another at 15 months of age (viral titer).
- 5 years to 9 years of age who missed the opportunity to be vaccinated previously: two doses of the triple vaccine with a 30-day interval between doses.
A vaccination campaign will be held between 6 and 31 August. The target audience for this strategy are children from 1 year to under 5 years. The details will be announced at a press conference, closer to the launch date of the campaign.
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Very sad to hear. I was the PAHO medical officer in the 90’s working closely with the Ministry of Health and National Health Foundation to help implement the national measles elimination plan. It was an exiting time, we had 27 dedicated epidemiologists (only dealing with measles or rash and fever outbreaks) in each of the Federal states of Brazil. This network of specifically trained epidemiologists allowed us to shorten the time between reporting, investigation and containment measures. Measles is a very contagious disease and if the time between occurrence of the first case(s) and control measures is to long, the diseases spreads rapidly in non protected persons, as we had seen in outbreaks in young adults in Sao Paolo. Very high levels of immunisation were reached in all municipalities.If immunisation levels are not homogeneously high, pockets of susceptible individuals accumulate yearly and the introduction of a measles virus can then spread easily and is far more difficult to control. I wish the Government of Brazil and Venezuela good luck in successfully stoping the current measles outbreak.