Every day, the Clinic for Infectious Diseases reports an average of 7 to 10 people infected with the measles; this tempo indicates that the epidemic will last until the summer, say the Ministry of Health.
For the measles epidemic to be declared over, there should be no reports of the disease twice within 12 days.
There were seven new cases reported at the clinic yesterday, where a 24-year-old patient from Kumanovo was hospitalized.
“It is a mother of an infected child and there is no record of received vaccines. Currently, there are 31 patients at the clinic, of which 15 are adults, and 16 are children”, report the clinic.
The Public Health Institute (PHI) reports that a total of 82 suspected cases have been reported in the last week, 74 of which have been diagnosed as measles (laboratory confirmed or with an epidemiological link). Forty-four cases of measles have been reported from Skopje, while the remaining 30 are from 9 cities across Macedonia.
“What is concerning is that there are 25 thousand unvaccinated children outside of Skopje, which means that there is still a need to boost vaccination in other cities,” said Vladimir Mikik MD, director of the PHI (Public Health Institute).
