This year, 22 cases of measles have already been registered in Lithuania, which is almost seven times more than last year, according to the country’s National Public Health Centre (NVSC).
In 70 percent of all cases, infected people were either unvaccinated or their vaccination status was unknown. In 40 percent of these cases, hospital treatment was necessary.
“The only preventive measure that protects everyone and society from measles is vaccination, which has been given to children worldwide for more than 60 years,” said Edita Jegelevičienė, chief specialist at the NVSC Infectious Disease Management Division. “Unfortunately, an insufficient number of children has been vaccinated in Lithuania in recent years,” she added.
Specialists say 95 percent of the population needs to be vaccinated to prevent measles outbreaks not only among children but also among adults.
In Lithuania, the first dose of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine is given free of charge to children at 15-16 months, and the second dose is given at 6–7 years of age, according to the preventive vaccination calendar for children.
Globally, measles cases increased by 79% in 2023, according to the World Health Organization. In 2022, WHO estimated that measles killed more than 130,000 – most of them children.
The number of confirmed measles cases in Canada so far this year is more than three times higher than all infections recorded in 2023, according to Dr. Theresa Tam, the country’s chief public health officer. The Public Health Agency of Canada is aware of 40 confirmed cases across the country in 2024. Tam said she is concerned that not enough school-aged children have been adequately vaccinated against the highly contagious virus.
Quebec has had 28 confirmed cases this year — the most in the country, Tam said. Ontario has had 10 cases; B.C. and Saskatchewan have had one case each. The majority of people who have been infected with measles in Canada were unvaccinated and most of them were children. Seven people have been hospitalized due to measles this year, Tam said. She said although some people have been infected while travelling internationally, others have caught measles in Canada.
In her opinion, there may have been a decrease in access to routine vaccinations during the COVID-19 pandemic, but local public health agencies have been “trying very hard to do catch up.”
Symptoms of measles include fever, red watery eyes, runny nose and a cough at first. Those symptoms are followed by a red rash that starts on the face and moves to other parts of the body, the Public Health Agency of Canada said in a statement. “Measles is more than a rash. Infection can lead to rare, but severe complications, inclung deafness and brain injury caused by inflammation of the brain, and can even be fatal,” the statement said.
A 95 per cent vaccination rate is needed to give communities herd immunity against measles.
The most recent available national data, which is from 2021, showed that 79 per cent of children had two doses of measles vaccine by age seven.
