Epidemiological Surveillance issues a warning about measles and reinforces the importance of vaccination against the disease – Vitória da Conquista City Hall

With the retreat of the Covid-19 pandemic and the resumption of full-time school life, childhood viruses circulated more frequently. At this time, the risk of measles spread is high, mainly due to low routine vaccination coverage, as campaigns were interrupted due to restrictions imposed by the pandemic.

In Vitória da Conquista, the Epidemiological Surveillance (Viep) of the Municipal Health Department (SMS), recorded, this year, 11 suspected cases of measles, of which nine were discarded and two are still under laboratory investigation. Therefore, Viep issued an alert to health units and has reinforced the recommendation that health professionals and the population be on full alert for any suspected case of febrile exanthematous disease, related to skin rashes.

Measles is a highly contagious disease caused by a virus called morbillivirus, which can be very dangerous and lethal, especially for children. The disease spreads tolink air and transmission occurs from one person to another, through secretions from the nose and mouth expelled when coughing, breathing, talking or breathing.

If the person, regardless of age or being vaccinated or not, has fever and pinkish spots on the skin, accompanied by symptoms such as cough, runny nose, conjunctivitis, small white spots inside the mouth, they should seek medical attention for clinical evaluation. and order laboratory tests for diagnosis.

The only effective protection against measles is vaccination, to interrupt the chain of transmission of the virus and eradicate the disease. In 2021, vaccination coverage against the disease in the municipality was 63.29%. This year, coverage is at 10.71% and the objective is to improve this percentage with the National Measles Vaccination Campaign underway in the municipality, vaccinating all children from six months to under six years of age, and health professionals assets up to 59 years old.

Vaccination of these two groups is indiscriminate, that is, all of them, without exception, must be vaccinated against measles in health units.