Health Alerts

Europe: Measles vigilance continues. European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) data on the ongoing measles outbreak affecting the region outlines the mounting death toll – 35 (31 in Romania, two in Italy, and one each in Germany and Portugal). In the 18 months from January 2016, a staggering 14,000 measles cases have been recorded. The ECDC figures indicate that one quarter of infections where the vaccination status was unknown were in adults aged 25 and above. The level of fully immunised individuals (i.e. received two vaccine doses) in the population must be at least 95 percent in order to interrupt the transmission of this highly contagious virus. Read more