The doctor explained why it is important to get vaccinated against measles for people without immunity

© Timur Khanov/PG

There are no special medicines to fight the measles virus, which causes, in particular, measles encephalitis and measles pneumonia, so it is important that all residents of Russia are vaccinated. About it on airWorld 24”said the immunologist Vladimir Bolibok.

According to the expert, 95-97 percent of the population in Russia has been vaccinated, but there are local outbreaks of measles in the country, which follow the chain from non-immune children and adults. At the same time, adults suffer the disease more severely, he said.

Bolibok noted that “the vaccine protects against measles very well,” and is able to protect an adult from a severe course of the disease even if revaccination is skipped. If an unvaccinated person falls ill, the consequences can be serious.

“We don’t have drugs that can stop the measles infection itself. Here you need a doctor’s supervision in order to prevent complications. The worst possible complication is measles encephalitis, which is inflammation of the brain. Measles pneumonia also occurs – this is a severe viral pneumonia that requires hospitalization and oxygen support in intensive care, ”the doctor said in an interview with the TV channel.

He recalled that the incubation period for measles lasts from 7 to 21 days. The disease is characterized by a sudden rise in temperature, headache, body aches. A rash and so-called Filatov-Koplik spots also appear on the oral mucosa.

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As Parlamentskaya Gazeta wrote, according to the World Health Organization, for 8 months of 2022, more than 155.5 thousand cases of measles were registered in 153 countries, and there were deaths. In 2023, the first local outbreak in Russia was identified in the Novosibirsk region. At least 65 people fell ill there, half of them are children. There is one focus of infection – in the Altai Territory. Isolated cases of the disease were also recorded in Omsk and Samara, Rossiyskaya Gazeta reported on January 24.

In Rospotrebnadzor, the main reason for the spread of the disease was the decrease in coverage of routine immunization against measles for children and adults, the increase in the number of refusals of vaccinations. The head of the department, Anna Popova, instructed the regions to provide clean-up immunization against measles and vaccination against diphtheria. It must be carried out between April 3 and December 31, 2023.