Already 55 cases this year

Measles: Austria on its way to becoming the EU leader

Measles is by no means harmless - an illness weakens the body's defenses to such an extent that the risk of dying from another infectious disease is increased over several years, warns the Ministry of Health.(Bild: lolostock.com/stock.adobe.com)

Cases of measles are on the rise in Austria - almost 55 cases of the highly contagious virus have already been confirmed in six federal states. The AGES (Agency for Health and Food Safety) warns that a further increase is to be expected.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the increase in measles cases in Europe is alarming. While there were 941 cases in 2022, there were already more than 30,000 cases in the countries of the European Union last year. And this "worrying" trend is set to continue in 2024.

Alongside Romania, Austria is the country in which the most cases were reported.

In 2023, Austria was also at the sad top with Romania in terms of the number of measles cases.(Bild: European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control)

According to AGES, 186 cases were reported in 2023. This year, as of February 9, there are already 55 confirmed cases in the epidemiological reporting system (EMS). A further increase is expected, according to AGES. Austria is therefore well on the way to becoming the European leader again, reported the Ö1 "Morgenjournal" on Monday.

Measles could be eradicated with high vaccination coverage rates
With correspondingly high vaccination rates, the measles virus could be eradicated. However, this would require 95 percent of the population to be immune. At present, however, only 80 to 90 percent of young children are immunized, and around 30,000 of the under-tens do not have adequate vaccination protection.

One in a thousand patients with life-threatening encephalitis
Complications such as bronchitis, middle ear infections and pneumonia occur in 20 out of 100 cases, warns AGES. Life-threatening encephalitis occurs in around one in 1000 patients. 98 out of 100 people who come into contact with the virus and are not immune become infected.

Virologist: "Everything speaks for vaccination"
The measles vaccination is a combination vaccination against measles-mumps-rubella (MMR). Two vaccinations are recommended from the age of 9 months. "Many children in Austria are currently being vaccinated too late", says AGES, and more and more are not being vaccinated at all. "Vaccination is a safe vaccination and if you look at the figures, everything speaks in favor of vaccination because the risk of wild virus infection is simply so high here," emphasized virologist Lukas Weseslindtner, head of the national reference laboratory for measles, mumps and rubella at MedUni Vienna, in an interview with ORF.

Weseslindtner spoke of a very dangerous virus that "damages us from head to toe" - from the brain to the respiratory organs to the immune system. Therefore, "every case is one too many", and current analyses show that "these viruses that we are detecting are already genetically different. This means that it is not one event, not one wedding or one soccer match, but several hotspots of different viruses, and since this virus is very, very contagious, it can now spread rapidly unless enough people are immune".

Short window of opportunity for revaccination
Regarding the chances of containing the spread, the expert said: "Now public health officers have to ask people who have fallen ill very quickly which people have come into contact with these sick people, and if they are not immune, there is only a very short window of opportunity to vaccinate these people."