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Fourteen measles cases identified in Russia in January-May 2022, says watchdog

According to Rospotrebnadzor, the age of all patients is less than 17 years

MOSCOW, June 26. /TASS/. Specialists have identified 14 cases of measles in Russia in January-May of 2022, all patients are children under 17 years of age, the press service of the sanitary watchdog told TASS on Sunday.

"In January-May 2022, 14 cases of the disease were identified in five regions of the country (incidence rate is 0.01 per 100,000 people), all patients are children under 17 years of age. The multiyear average is 1.12 cases per 100,000 population", the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing said.

As many as 721 cases were reported in Russia in 2017, 2,539 were identified in 2018, 4,491 - in 2019, 1,212 - in 2020 and one case of measles was reported last year. The press service explained that the objective preconditions for improving the epidemic situation for measles were created in 2019-2020. At that time, in addition to the measles and rubella elimination program in place in Russia, mass immunization against measles of unvaccinated Russian citizens and migrant workers was carried out. This significantly improved the epidemic situation, the watchdog emphasized.

Measles is an airborne highly contagious and potentially lethal infection. As a rule, a severe course of the disease is seen among those who were not vaccinated against measles. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the number of deaths from measles annually reaches 150,000-180,000 and more, the watchdog’s press service said. Before vaccination, the disease used to kill 2.5 million to 2.6 million people annually.

Vaccination is the main means of fighting the disease. Preventive vaccination was launched worldwide in the 1960s, it "has been extremely successful in reducing the incidence of measles and mortality from this infection," the agency stressed.