Measles is very contagious. One infected child may infect another 18, with a 30% rate of major complications. The virus incubation period lasts between 7 and 18 days. The Ministry of Health, Labor, and Social Protection urges parents to avoid places with many children and to seek a doctor’s opinion if they had been in contact with an infected person, IPN reports.
Measles may produce fever, followed by rashes, cough, a runny nose, or conjunctivitis. The consequences of this disease are very grave, and can lead to lifelong repercussions or even death. The only means of protection against measles is vaccination. There is no specific treatment against measles. Once a person is infected, only the symptoms are treated.
The Ministry of Health, Labor, and Social Protection recommends young parents to check with their family physicians or medical assistants, to see if their children have been vaccinated according to the appropriate schedule, and to do it urgently if they have missed it. Families are urged to exercise caution when visiting neighboring countries, especially countries with measles epidemics, and to inform their children’s schools or kindergartens on the children’s vaccination status.
From the beginning of the year and until August 16, 64 cases of measles have been confirmed, with 45 other under suspicion, currently undergoing laboratory examination. The disease has been carried over from Ukraine and Romania, with a consequent spread within the country.
Throughout years 2017-2018 (until August 9), Romanian has registered 14.9 thousand cases of measles, of which 59 were fatal. In Ukraine, in the current year, 28.8 thousand measles patients have been recorded, of whom 13 died. The most affected regions are: Lviv, Transcarpathia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Odessa, Vinnytsia, and Kyiv.
