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There are three reasons why a disease such as measles, which was eliminated from the continent in 2016, may reappear: poor vaccination plans, changes in the behavior of individuals and mobility of people between countries and continents. Today, these three situations occur at the same time and are the ones that explain the increase in cases.
According to the Measles / Rubella Bulletin of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), in January of this year, America recorded only two cases, both in Venezuela. Since then and until June 1945, a figure that represents 40% of almost five thousand cases recorded between 2010 and 2015.
What happened? Jeannette Dabanch, a specialist in infectious diseases and coordinator of the Emerging Diseases Committee of the Chilean Infectious Diseases Society, points out that despite the fact that the continent was declared free from the disease two years ago, the virus continues to circulate around the world. the rest of the world. case. In Europe, for example, the disease caused several outbreaks in countries with vaccination plans, but as people stopped being vaccinated, the number of susceptible individuals began to increase. In the case of the Americas, the change in behavior is compounded by the weakening of health policies in Venezuela, which has the highest number of cases and hence the disease has spread to Brazil. Another factor is migration and the large number of trips to places where the disease is still present.
At the Ministry of Health (Minsal), they recognize that we are facing an "unusual situation for the Americas". For this reason, they say, health services across the country have been alerted to actively search for cases. "The case of Peru and Argentina is expected in the context of the current risk of measles in the Americas.Today, no case has been confirmed in Chile, while maintaining active surveillance. 2015, our country introduced an imported case, which managed to control the epidemic in two months, "they say.
Regarding vaccination programs, the Minsal says that they are doing quite well, and in the specific case of measles immunization. to the infant population at the age of one year and in first year. "The coverage of MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine reached in 2017 at one year is 93.5% and in the first base of 90%, according to information from the National Immunization Program.The latest seroprevalence studies in the Chilean population (15 and 40 years) reach 89.5% for measles, which is a very good indicator of protection against the disease. "
Representative of the OPS in Chile, Paloma Cuchí, explains that the declaration of the continent "free of" does not mean that cases are not registered. "Some can be imported, others not.The important thing is that as a region and all over the world, what is sought after, it is eradication, c & # 39; That is to say that the virus no longer circulates, as it has occurred with smallpox.Today, despite these cases, we still have the elimination of the measles virus In the 1980s and before we had more than a million cases a year, now, between 2010 and 2015, we had only 4,800 cases, "he says.
As a region, says Cuchí, vaccination coverage is good, especially in Chile. "The results depend on a number of factors. The bottom line is that people get vaccinated, that there is a surveillance of any detected and suspicious case. When something goes wrong, we encounter problems, "he says
. The recommendation of the health authority is to vaccinate those traveling abroad and were born between 1971 and 1978, who do not know if they have two doses of the vaccine. or do not know if they had the disease. Children aged six months to one year must also do so, as well as children aged 1 to 6 years who receive only one dose of vaccine and leave the border.
Venezuela
In the case of Venezuela, stresses the representative of PAHO, cases are related to access to the vaccine. "OPS technically accompanies this country to address its health problems.Every time there is a situation in a country, the first thing that is affected is vaccination and infectious diseases," says Cuchí
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