No measles epidemic in Denmark: health officials
The Local Denmark - [email protected]
Published: 12 Mar, 2015 CET.
Updated: Thu 12 Mar 2015 08:08 CET
The Danish State Serum Institute has declared that with no new recorded cases in 18 days, there is no widespread measles outbreak in Denmark.
More than two weeks have now passed since two children in the Copenhagen area were diagnosed with measles. With no new cases popping up in the interim, the Danish State Serum Institute (SSI) said Wednesday that there is no need for concern that an epidemic is underway in Denmark.
“We passed the point in time yesterday in which more people would have had to have been infected if this were an epidemic. There therefore should not any additional cases from this current Danish outbreak,” SSI spokesman Peter Andersen told Politiken.
The two recent measles cases in Copenhagen and the revelation that around one in five Danish parents does not vaccinate their children led to fears that Denmark could see a measles outbreak similar to the one in Berlin, Germany, where around 700 people have been infected with measles since October.
Andersen said that SSI is currently receiving many inquiries about the the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine that is recommended by Danish health officials. Many of the Danes contacting SSI about the vaccination are concerned about what’s going on in Germany.
“We are closely following the outbreak in Berlin. We can see that there is a continued active spread in the Berlin area so the outbreak is far from over,” Andersen said.
He advised that anybody under the age of 40 travelling from Denmark to Berlin get vaccinated if they haven’t already done so or haven’t previously had the measles.
The resurgence of measles led the World Health Organization to call on Europeans to step up vaccinations against the highly contagious virus.
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More than two weeks have now passed since two children in the Copenhagen area were diagnosed with measles. With no new cases popping up in the interim, the Danish State Serum Institute (SSI) said Wednesday that there is no need for concern that an epidemic is underway in Denmark.
“We passed the point in time yesterday in which more people would have had to have been infected if this were an epidemic. There therefore should not any additional cases from this current Danish outbreak,” SSI spokesman Peter Andersen told Politiken.
The two recent measles cases in Copenhagen and the revelation that around one in five Danish parents does not vaccinate their children led to fears that Denmark could see a measles outbreak similar to the one in Berlin, Germany, where around 700 people have been infected with measles since October.
Andersen said that SSI is currently receiving many inquiries about the the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine that is recommended by Danish health officials. Many of the Danes contacting SSI about the vaccination are concerned about what’s going on in Germany.
“We are closely following the outbreak in Berlin. We can see that there is a continued active spread in the Berlin area so the outbreak is far from over,” Andersen said.
He advised that anybody under the age of 40 travelling from Denmark to Berlin get vaccinated if they haven’t already done so or haven’t previously had the measles.
The resurgence of measles led the World Health Organization to call on Europeans to step up vaccinations against the highly contagious virus.
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