Measles and whooping cough are on the rise in Europe and Italy is no exception. The data published by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) on the occasion of the European Immunization Week, as well as those collected by the ISS for Italy, show an increase in infections and a decrease in vaccinations in every age group : these infections can thus circulate, leaving fragile subjects exposed in a context where community immunity – guaranteed by wide vaccination coverage – does not materialize. For this reason, the Italian Society of General Practitioners and Primary Care Doctors (SIMG) joins the Italian Society of Paediatrics in calling for the vaccination of children for all vaccine-preventable diseases and adds that it is essential for adults to comply with the necessary reminders.
Measles cases – recalls a note from Simg – have increased 60 times in the WHO European region; according to the ECD, they have been increasing in several EU countries since 2023. Between March 2023 and the end of February 2024, at least 5,770 cases of measles were reported, with at least 5 deaths. In Italy from 1 January to 31 March 2024, 213 cases of measles were notified (34 in January, 93 in February, 86 in March). 88% were unvaccinated at the time of infection. 56 cases (26.3%) reported at least one complication, including 23 cases of pneumonia and one case of encephalitis in a young, unvaccinated adult. The highest risk is for children under one year old, who are too young to be vaccinated, and for fragile immunocompromised individuals who cannot receive the vaccine. These populations should be protected by community immunity: measles spreads very easily, so vaccination coverage of at least 95% of the population is essential to interrupt transmission.
Furthermore, since mid-2023, as the ECDC points out – the note details – an increase in whooping cough cases has also been reported in several EU countries, with preliminary data indicating cases more than tenfold in 2023 and 2024 compared to to 2022 and 2021.
“The worrying numbers relating to the spread of measles and whooping cough – explains Alessandro Rossi, president of Simg – lead us to strongly recommend the relevant vaccinations not only for children, for whom there are appointments on the vaccination calendar, but also for adults who do not are covered or require a booster vaccination, in fact, it is not just an individual protection, but also concerns those who cannot receive it due to immunocompromised problems and are at risk of contracting measles and suffering serious, sometimes lethal consequences, just as it is. happening.”
The booster vaccination against measles “is indicated for healthcare personnel, for fragile patients, for women planning a pregnancy – underlines Rossi – As regards whooping cough, every ten years the adult must undergo the administration of a triple dose of vaccine against diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis. In addition to tetanus, which causes some deaths every year, it is necessary to protect ourselves against whooping cough, which causes serious risks especially for newborns, heart patients, those with serious respiratory diseases and diabetics”. The risk “is also to confuse the pathology with a prolonged cough, underestimating the dangerous consequences”, she concludes.
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