Extremely contagious disease ravaging Europe

- The most infectious disease we know of.

How to describe afdelingslæge Peter Henrik Andersen, at Statens Serum Institut the disease of measles, which is currently rampant in Europe.

New figures from the world health organisation, WHO, shows that in 2018 was 82.596 registered cases of measles. It is three times as many as in 2017 and the whole 15 times more than in 2016.

the Reason for the record number is partly due to a huge outbreak of measles in the Ukraine, and Eastern and Southern europe has been hit hard.

- the Background for this is basically that there are too few who are vaccinated, says Peter Henrik Andersen on the outbreak.

Since 1974, have you been vaccinated against measles in Denmark, and all small children will be offered the vaccine.

From the WHO reads it, that there never before have been so many europeans that are vaccinated as in 2018, and afdelingslæge Peter Henrik Andersen explains that the disease is now particularly thriving in adults.

- It is simply because there are young people and adults, who did not get the vaccine when they were children. It is them who are now affected by the measles because you didn't get a vaccine at the time when it was offered, explains Peter Henrik Andersen.

the Virus is transmitted through the air, and there must be almost nothing to the spread

- It may be one, as you very briefly passed by, or it can even be one that has been sitting in the metro and walks out of the subway, and then you come in and sit. And then hangs there still virus particles in the air, says afdelingslægen.

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Despite the record smittetal in Europe, is the disease - on the paper - no longer in Denmark.

- It is so much under control, so we meet the WHO's provision to say that the disease is eliminated in Denmark. It will say that we have as good vaccinationstilslutning, and we have so few cases, that we can account for them in a so detailed way that we get control of any outbreaks very quickly, says Peter Henrik Andersen.

however, There were more people in Denmark who were infected in 2018, among other things, was a schoolchild infected on a holiday.

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in Order to get to grips with the disease in Denmark, was the vaccine in 2018 made free for anyone who has not been vaccinated in advance and not have had the disease.

- This is to ensure that as many people as possible are protected, so we didn't get the outbreak in Denmark, but also in order that you are protected when you travel. Otherwise, you can get the disease and take it home.

Have you already had the measles once, you can not be infected again.

Here are the symptoms you should be aware of

There are typically between 8 to 11 days from one infected with the measles virus, the initial symptoms of measles appear.

the Disease can be divided into two stages:

The early symptoms resemble a severe cold, where the flowing fluid from the nose and possibly. from eyes and a cough, lysskyhed and high fever. There can be seen the white spots (so-called Kopliske spots) in the oral mucosa in this process. After 3-4 days can be seen recovery, but the improvement is only temporary.

After a few days of recovery to come there typically a aggravation with a new feberepisode accompanied by the classic mæslingeudslæt (approximately 13-14 days after infection). The rash is to start with the lesser and pink, but it flows gradually together to form larger spots and gradually shifts to a darker color. The skin may also be slightly thickened.
The typical mæslingeudslæt begins behind the ears and spreads in the course of a few days, down over the neck and body in order to eventually show up on the arms and legs. The phase of the rash usually lasts 3-5 days.

It is in the context of the second phase that can get complications such as otitis, pneumonia and diarrhoea. More rarely seen encephalitis (encephalitis in 1 out of 2500), and thrombocytopenia (blodplademangel in 1 out of 3500 cases).

Source: Statens Serum Institut