Measles and whooping cough boom in the EU, here's who's at risk: what the experts say

“With the Covid pandemic there was a decrease in vaccination coverage for whooping cough and measles, especially in 2020 and in the most affected areas. Then there was a resumption of immunizations and we got closer to 95% coverage of the population for whooping cough and just under 95% for measles. At least in Italy, but it is clear that especially for measles it is enough to drop a few points compared to the coverage which immediately raises its head. They are two super contagious diseases and very little is enough. It is clear, however, that the majority of cases are recorded in the 15-64 age group, more than 50% over 30 years of age. Measles is a disease that nowadays spreads more among unvaccinated adults and if it affects an over 60 person with other pathologies it becomes very serious. As is whooping cough for young children“. Thus to Adnkronos Salute Giovanni Rezza, extraordinary professor of Hygiene at the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University of Milan, who intervenes on the alarm launched by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), on the occasion of the European Health Week immunization, on the measles and whooping cough boom in Europe.

“Perhaps not everyone knows – and I think not even many doctors – that there is a WHO measles elimination program which provides for free vaccination. This – warns Rezza – should push family doctors to promote better knowledge of vaccinations for their clients We are facing a problem that is not only Italian, the ECDC documents precisely this. We must – he concludes – recover the adults who have not received the booster dose and become the segment of the population most susceptible to the measles outbreaks that we are seeing”.

“It is really depressing to see the European ECDC data for whooping cough and measles, because it means we have gone back a lot – he tells Adnkronos Salute Matteo Bassetti, director of infectious diseases at the San Martino polyclinic hospital in Genoa – So many cases of measles and whooping cough in Europe in 2024, after we had come close to no longer seeing these diseases, is a situation out of time. In 2018-2019 we were very close to victory and eradication.”

“We must explain to people the importance of vaccines, there has been a loss of trust but now we are not there trying to understand why but let's start again as we did in the 80s and 90s. They explain how vaccines can change our lives Today anti-HPV prevents cancer, the hepatitis B vaccine prevents neoplasia, just as rubella prevents malformations, these are the messages that need to be given to people – reiterates the infectious disease specialist – The measles numbers will continue to grow. , even in Italy, because in the absence of coverage it is clear that outbreaks will return in our country and in other European states. All doctors must be made aware: from family doctors to those in the emergency room so that they know how to recognize the pathologies and then ask for the correct tests. “.