İstanbul Medical Chamber warns against measles outbreak

 Click to read the article in Turkish

The increase in the number of measles cases in İstanbul was "worrying" announced the İstanbul Medical Chamber (İTO) in a press briefing.

Dr. Saffet Ercan from the chamber board reported that 343 measles cases have been seen throughout Turkey in January-February 2023, and that this number was growing rapidly. 

There are children who have lost their lives because of measles, Ercan informed in the briefing. 

"Vaccine rejection"

Dr. Ercan said, "92-95 percent of the society should be vaccinated against measles to stop the circulation of the measles virus. We see that this criteria is not met in many of the provinces in our country including İstanbul according to the 2021 data that the Ministry of Health shared with the WHO." 

He cited vaccine rejection as a primary reason for the increase in the number of measles cases. Vaccine rejection frequency has risen dramatically, he informed:

"Vaccine rejection and hesitancy turned into a crisis. While there were only 18 families who did not have their children to be vaccinated in 2011, this number has grown to 23 thousand in 2018. The Constitutional Court ruled in 2015 that a father who did not want to have his child vaccinated had the right, due to insufficient legal framework, and this has increased the number of families who reject vaccination," he said. 

Dr. Ercan also underlined that cross-border migration played an important role in the increasing number of cases since there are problems in vaccinating the population that is unregistered. 

He invited the families to vaccinate their children, telling them that the only way to be protected in a pandemic is to vaccinate their children. He invited the Ministry of Health to be transparent about the identified cases . 

How many cases seen in İstanbul?

The doctors representing İMO responded to the questions of the reporters. 

The question of how many cases have so far been identified in İstanbul was replied to by Dr. Ercan.

"We do not have the exact number because the Ministry is not disclosing the numbers. We learn about the situation from our colleagues at the provincial directorate, and the family health centers. The situation may be worse than what we know. People apply to the emergency services every day. We know that measles departments have been set up in some hospitals; one such hospital is the Başakşehir Çam Sakura Hospital. 

Who are at risk?

Children, pregnant women, old, and immunosuppressed patients are at risk, said Dr. Özden Güngör, a member of the family physicians section of İMO, responding to the related question. 

WHO warns about spread in the European Region

The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a statement toward the end of last month on the spread of measles cases in the European region. The statement dated April 26 was saying that the countries in the region were stepping up to stop the spread of measles.

Accordingly, measles had been reported in 17 countries of the WHO European Region since the start of 2023. Over 900 cases were reported by the end of February, exceeding the number reported for all of 2022.

"All countries, including those verified as having eliminated endemic transmission of measles, must be vigilant for possible importation and spread of this highly contagious disease," Dr. Jose Hagan, Team Lead for Vaccine-preventable Diseases and Immunization at WHO/Europe was saying.

The Russian Federation, Tajikistan, and Turkey have reported the largest numbers of cases over 12 months (414, 610, and 466 cases, respectively), according to the statement, and Austria, Serbia, the United Kingdom, Uzbekistan, and others have seen an increase in cases since the start of 2023. (RT/PE)