MEASLES – SPAIN (04): (ANDALUCIA) CHILDCARE CENTER, MORE CASES
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International Society for Infectious Diseases
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Date: Tue 18 Feb 2025 06:50 CET
Source: El Español [in Spanish, machine trans., edited]
https://www.elespanol.com/malaga/vivir/salud/20250218/contagios-brote-sarampion-guarderia-malaga-aumentan-casos-confirmados/924907990_0.html
At the beginning of February [2025], all the alarms went off in a
daycare center in Málaga when it was detected that several children
were infected with measles. Now, more than 10 days later, the number
of confirmed cases amounts to 8, according to sources consulted by
this newspaper.
The first cases of measles were detected on February 5 [2025], 2 of
them suspected and 1 confirmed. The infected children were two
2-year-old twins and one 14-month-old boy, not vaccinated with MMR.
As a result, as there were 3 cases detected in the same daycare
center, the Andalucian Government declared it a measles outbreak.
Since then, 5 more cases associated with this outbreak have been
confirmed.
It should be remembered that from the moment the measles outbreak was
declared, the Junta de Andalucía is carrying out the epidemiological
investigation of the cases to detect the possible source of the cases,
and the control measures on the cases and contacts contemplated in the
measles surveillance and alert protocol are being carried out.
This protocol explains that “measles is very contagious, so it is
essential to quickly establish a contact study to determine both the
source of infection of the case and to identify the people the case
could have infected.”
Therefore, if the contact study identifies susceptible people who
cannot or do not want to receive the vaccine, their exclusion from the
environment where the case occurred will be established, until the
incubation period ends (up to 23 days from exposure). Additionally,
these contacts must be followed up for 23 days after the last contact
with a confirmed case.
At the same time, they emphasize that preventing the spread of measles
depends on the rapid vaccination of susceptible contacts. Vaccination
of contacts of a measles case will be carried out as soon as
possible.
Likewise, they emphasize that vaccination in the first 72 hours after
exposure improves the probability of preventing the disease or
mitigating its severity, but vaccination should always be offered to
susceptible contacts, regardless of the time elapsed since exposure,
to prevent measles transmission, especially when in an outbreak.