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Measles on rebound in Barcelona

Catalonia’s Health Department has reported the appearance of 18 cases of measles in Barcelona since November 20. None of the patients had been vaccinated against the disease, and only three cases are still positive today

STAFF | DECEMBER 28TH, 2010

People who have been in contact with the infected are being
vaccinated for MMR

Following the recent measles outbreak in Granada, in southern Spain, which infected 59 people, this contagious disease now appears to have arrived to Barcelona. Catalonia’s Health Department has reported the appearance of 18 cases of measles since November 20 in the Barcelona area, five of which have been detected in the last two weeks. Health authorities are not yet talking about an outbreak, and none of those infected had been vaccinated.

Except for three individuals between 30 to 40 years old, the rest of the cases are among young people between 8 months to 18 years old. None had been vaccinated: some due to age (vaccines are given at 12 months old), others because they refused to receive a vaccination, and, finally, because some cases corresponded to people who have recently been abroad (in France, for example, there is an active outbreak of measles that this year has produced more than 2,000 cases).

Given the situation, Catalonia’s health services are vaccinating all those who have been in contact with the infected and have not been previously vaccinated for MMR (measles, mumps and rubella). If among these contacts there are school-age children who do not want the vaccine for religious, medical or other reasons, they should stay home for 21 days from the onset of the illness.

A highly contagious viral disease

Every day around the world 450 people die from measles (164,000 people per year), according to the World Health Organization (WHO), the vast majority of which are children. It is a highly contagious viral disease that has practically disappeared in countries with universal vaccination. However, population movements and the rejection of the vaccine by certain groups of people is allowing for measles to make a comeback in areas where it had been virtually eliminated, like in Catalonia.

In 2006 and 2007, there were outbreaks in Barcelona and Tarragona with 381 cases
In Spain in recent years, there have been outbreaks in La Rioja, Madrid and Andalusia, among others. In 2006 and 2007, there were outbreaks in Barcelona and Tarragona with 381 confirmed cases, mostly in unvaccinated individuals, and a significant percentage of the cases were concentrated in infants under 15 months old. Following this outbreak, the first dose of vaccine, previously administered at 15 months old, was moved forward to 12 months.

In Catalonia, vaccination for MMR routinely started in 1981 and has almost wiped out the disease (in 2008, only five cases were reported compared with 5,489 cases in 1986). The current vaccination coverage is very high: 99.0% at 12 months old and 92.1% at 4 years old.

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