Kazakhstan reports surging number of measles cases among children

According to the Ministry of Healthcare of Kazakhstan, unvaccinated children account for about 70% of cases of measles in the country.

What happened? As of September 1, 2023, Kazakhstan reported 4,306 cases of measles with children under 14 accounting for 3,581 cases or 83%.

Who gets measles more often? According to epidemiologists, those children who have never gotten a vaccine account for 3,006 cases (70%). In 1,714 cases, parents of those kids refused to get a shot, in 572 there were vaccine exemptions, in 648 cases children were too young and in 72 cases there were other reasons. People with unknown vaccination status account for 772 cases or 18%.

«The main reason for the growing number of measles cases is a refusal to get a shot against measles,» the ministry said in a statement.

Regional statistics. The city of Almaty reported the highest rate of measles cases (1,215), followed by the Jambyl region (541), the Almaty region (520), the city of Shymkent (501) and the capital city of Astana (314).

How dangerous is this disease? Measles may cause severe complications such as inflammation of the meninges (encephalitis emerges in 1% to 4% of cases), lungs (pneumonia is reported in 1% to 6%), and ears (otitis happens in 7% to 9%). In some cases, a fatal outcome of the disease is possible as well.

«There is no special treatment for measles. The only reliable way of preventing measles is to get a vaccine in time. Routine immunization of children is carried out at the age of 1 year and 6 years,” the healthcare ministry underlined.

On August 10, Aizhan Yesmagambetova, the country’s chief sanitary officer, revealed that more than 3,000 cases of measles had been registered in the country.

On July 25, Yesmagambetova told reporters on the sidelines of the cabinet that about 2,000 children had contracted measles this year.

The context. In April 2023, Healthcare Minister Azhar Giniyat said that the first patients with measles were infected abroad.

“The infection was imported from Turkey, Russia and Egypt by our tourists. As a result, our children have gotten sick. In most cases, those kids were unvaccinated. Currently, we are carrying out the vaccination of children,» the minister said at the time.

In December 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned the world about the upcoming epidemic of measles, citing less vaccination and weakened epidemiological control over the disease because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In early 2022, WHO reported several outbreaks of measles in some regions of Africa.