No new cases of measles in the Republic of Macedonia have been registered during the last week (October 07 – October 13, 2017). As of 06.10.2017, a total of 14 cases of measles were reported in the Republic of Macedonia.
On September 25, 2017, CPH Skopje reported a measles epidemic in the territory of the municipality of Gazi Baba-Kvantaska deponija. The symptoms of the first reported case of Kvantaska deponija appeared on September 15, 2017. Given the epidemiological data on contact with diseased children with similar symptoms in Kosovo, it can be assumed that the infection is brought in contact with an imported measles case.
Regarding the place of residence, 10 people from the diseased live in Madzari- Kvantaska deponija, and one person in the village of Kondovo, Suto Orizari, Cair, and one of the deceased children is a foreign citizen – he lives in Lipjan, Kosovo.
Regarding the age of the diseased, only one case is under the age of 1, and it is not subject to compulsory vaccination against measles. Most of the patients (n = 7) belong to the age group of 1-4 years, 2 are at the age of 5-9, and one person belongs to the age groups 10-14, 15-19, 20-29 and over 30 years.
Only one of the affected individuals has been vaccinated with a single dose of MMR (a 31-year-old woman who received a first dose of vaccine at the age of one year), the remaining are not liable or are not vaccinated. In addition, four of the diseased persons were vaccinated with one dose of MRP during the vaccine campaign conducted on September 23, 2017, two to five days before they got ill.
Of the total number of registered cases (n = 14), 13 were laboratory confirmed, and one is a clinical and epidemiologically related case.
At the Clinic for Infectious Diseases and Febrile Conditions in Skopje, 12 people were hospitalized, one person was hospitalized at the Clinic for Pediatric Diseases. In only two cases, complications in the form of pneumonia have been reported.
All laboratory confirmed cases have been confirmed in the Laboratory for Virology and Molecular Diagnostics of the Institute of Public Health – a reference laboratory for measles and rubella, according to the recommendations of the WHO.
Vaccination with MRI vaccine according to the recommendations:
During the period from 25.09-06.10.2017 in the territory of the Republic of Macedonia were vaccinated with a total of 5,781 people with MRI vaccine, of which 2,099 with a first dose, and 3,682 with a second dose among school children. 348 persons which missed the previous dose, were immunized with a first dose, and 49 people with a second dose.
From the total vaccinated with the first dose, 1,326 people (63.2%) are from the territory of the CPH Skopje.
