People in Tatarstan without vaccinations against measles and influenza not to be allowed to New Year shows

The flu coming for New Year shows

“New Year holidays with a large number of festive events are awaiting us, tourist flows to foreign countries and in the territory of the Russian Federation are going to increase during this period,” Lyubov Avdonina reminded. “These days, the epidemiological situation will be complicated by the incidence of acute respiratory diseases and influenza.”

She clarified that so far, according to the WHO, the incidence of influenza in the world and in Russia is low and there is no epidemic, the share of influenza among circulating viruses is only 3,6%, RSV, adenovirus and various types of parainfluenza prevail. In the Republic of Tatarstan, no cases of influenza have been registered, the incidence of ARVI is being below the epidemiological threshold by 7%. A rise in the incidence is expected from the third decade of December — with a peak in January.

The night is young

Avdonina and Lopushov reminded: the vaccination campaign that began in September continues and it is not too late to take advantage of the opportunity to get vaccinated for free — in the polyclinic at the place of residence.

Dmitry Lopushov reminded who should definitely be vaccinated against the flu:

“There will be certain requirements to the republican delegation that is sent to the Russian New Year Tree Show in Moscow, we will ensure that the participants were vaccinated against influenza and other infections in the framework of the national vaccination calendar in order to prevent the spread of infection. It will be sad and painful if they say that sick children came from the republic.”

According to him, vaccination of conscripts and pregnant women is also continuing. Five thousand pregnant women have already been vaccinated against influenza.

A “souvenir” for unvaccinated tourist

“Today, measles remains an important problem,” reminded Lyubov Avdonina. “At the end of 2018, measles outbreaks were observed in 47 of 53 countries in Europe, more than 82 thousand cases of the disease were registered, 72 cases of which were fatal. The situation in Ukraine, Serbia, Georgia and Montenegro was extremely unfavourable in 2018. For 10 months of 2019, according to the latest who data, 440 thousand cases of measles in 187 countries were registered in the world. Measles is very volatile, highly contagious, and the lack of vaccinations leads to a large number of the population being affected.”

In Europe, more than 98 thousand cases of measles were registered in the 10 months of 2019 — almost 20% more than in the whole of last year. The situation in Ukraine is still extremely unfavourable — there are 58,200 cases of measles, which is about 70% of the incidence in the European region. In Russia for 10 months, according to preliminary data, 4 thousand cases of measles were registered, and more than 60% of them fall on Moscow, Moscow Oblast and Dagestan.

“Now there is an increase in the incidence in Thailand — 4,648 cases, 14 of them fatal, and in Turkey, where more than 8,5 thousand cases have been registered,” Avdonina highlighted the situation in the favourite vacation spots of Tatarstan residents and clarified that the number of cases of measles importation to Russia from abroad is not decreasing.

Participants of the press conference reported on the current situation with measles in Kazan. Lyubov Avdonina stressed that its spread was possible because in the republic there are residents who have not been vaccinated for various reasons:

“Every year we face imported cases of the disease. In 2015 and 2016, there were five cases of imported measles — from Kazakhstan, Serbia, Yakutia and India. In 2017, measles importation was not registered, but in 2018 there were two foci of measles with a total number of cases of 12 people — in Naberezhnye Chelny and Kazan, and foci were also associated with the importation of infection — from Chelyabinsk, from Asia.”

All those who fell ill last year were not vaccinated against measles, including five children who were not vaccinated because of parents' refusals, Avdonina stressed a dangerous trend.

In 2019, seven confirmed measles cases were reported in Tatarstan — one in Naberezhnye Chelny and six in Kazan, all were brought from foreign countries, from Ukraine, Moscow and Thailand.

“The last case is from Thailand,” Avdonina said. “A mother and her child — both not vaccinated due to refusal of the woman.”

Last Sunday, another case of measles was registered under the question — in a man who repeatedly went to Moscow for business purposes. Now he is under suspicion — placed in an infectious diseases hospital, but the number of contacts with him is very high.

Measles is going to “catch up” in 6 years

Lyubov Avdonina and Dmitry Lopushov tried to convince Tatarstan citizens not to refuse vaccinations — they explained that there is no treatment for measles as such — only for its complications, which can be very dangerous and postponed for years.

“There is no cure for measles today, it is a viral infection, treatment is only symptomatic. But measles has terrible complications that can manifest even years later. These are various pneumonia, encephalitis, and the most terrible disease is subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, which occurs 5-6 years after recovery. Children are particularly susceptible to this.”

Therefore, the participants of the press conference explained, in order to avoid the spread of the disease, vaccination of contact patients begins even before the appearance of external symptoms — already 72 hours after contact with the patient.

“And if you are invited to a routine vaccination, then you should not refuse,” says Lyubov Avdonina. “If there are doubts that the vaccination is necessary for the reason that it was made earlier, and the data on it have not been preserved, then you can do a serological study of the intensity of the immunity of measles, but this service, unlike vaccination, is paid, and vaccination in the absence of immunity will still have to be done.”

Be sure to vaccinate against measles in children who will go to the Russian New Year Tree event, to visit Ded Moroz, and their accompanying persons.

An important document

The deputy chief sanitary doctor of the Republic of Tatarstan reminded that no one can get to Tatarstan hospitals without measles vaccination. According to her, the worst thing when measles is brought to the hospital is that it will have to be closed for 21 days, and patients will have to be hastily distributed to other medical institutions, which is hardly useful for them.

“When I studied at medical school, they could not show us a patient with measles,” Dmitry Lopushov recalled his youth. “All because measles vaccinations were given to children every year and every six years.”

He stressed the importance of information about vaccinations: vaccination certificate, which contains information about all vaccinations, not only against measles but also against tetanus and other diseases, and will be a pass to the hospital, and in other cases will be useful:

“This document should be kept together with passport!”