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The Junta de Andalucía regional government has decided to bring forward the second dose of the measles vaccine in areas that have been affected by recent outbreaks in various municipalities in the region. The regulation, which involves administering the second dose at 15 months instead of 3 years of age, starting from next year onwards, aims to stop the spread of the disease among children that, until now, have been too young to receive the dose as per protocol.
While this practice will be implemented throughout the region from next year, the municipalities with current outbreaks will have the regulation enforced immediately. The municipalities in question are: Mijas, Fuengirola, some areas of Malaga city and the Huelva municipality of Gibraleón.
Last week saw the latest outbreak reported by the regional ministry of health, with two cases, bringing the total number to 49.
Andalucía has a vaccination rate that exceeds the 95% recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). For that reason, the regional health ministry's investigation inspected and discovered that almost a third of the cases (29%) have been imported from other countries: Morocco (11), Belgium (one) and Denmark (one).
Of the 49 confirmed cases in Andalucía, eight children are under the age of one. All of them have not yet been vaccinated due to not having reached the minimum age. Of the rest of the case, 47% were children under 15 and 53% were adults (18-65 years). Only two of these cases had a documented history of receiving one dose of the vaccine; 25 were not vaccinated and in 22 the vaccination status is unknown. Hospital admission was required in 45% of cases.
Of the non-imported cases, 11 are isolated cases in which the source of infection is unknown. Five are in Malaga city, two in Marbella, one in Álora, one in Calañas, one in Huelva and one in Palos de la Frontera.
Seven measles outbreaks have been confirmed so far, six of which are still active. The first was detected on 6 February in a nursery in Fuengirola, with 10 cases mostly affecting babies in the 0-12-month age bracket, mostly of imported nature.
The second outbreak was reported on 18 February. This time, six cases with unknown origin were confirmed in a secondary school in Mijas.
On 1 March, an outbreak of four cases of imported origin was reported in Lepe (Huelva). The affected were Moroccan workers who had arrived in Spain on 10 February.
Another outbreak was detected in an aviation school in Malaga province on 17 March, with two confirmed cases and one pending confirmation. The fifth outbreak was reported one day later, on 18 March, with two cases and one pending confirmation in the family of one of the infected Malaga.
The sixth outbreak - a pair from a family of Moroccan origin - was declared on 29 March in Moguer (Huelva).
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