Malta’s public health authorities are investigating three separate, unrelated, confirmed cases of measles on the island as the anti-vaccination movement continues to gain strength in Europe.

These three new cases join the five imported cases of measles as well as one case of local transmission that were documented in 2018.

Speaking to Lovin Malta last November, Dr Charmaine Gauci, the Superintendent of Health, raised concerns over the potential of a measles outbreak in Malta due to “vaccine hesitant parents” importing measles onto the island.

“We have to be careful – this year we had five imported cases of measles, and we’re not looking very far away,” she said. “We’re looking at Italy, we’re looking at the UK, we’re looking at Germany, so these are all countries where they have measles. We are seeing vaccine hesitancy – some parents are afraid to vaccinate their children.”

Since there was no sustained transmission, Malta has been able to keep a measles outbreak at bay

However, whilst these cases are being investigated, necessary precautions are being taken to ensure that these cases remain isolated.

The Public Health Authority’s strategic action for measles includes vaccination, early identification of cases, isolation, management of cases, and contact tracing.

Measles cases primarily occur in unvaccinated populations in both adults and children

Large, fatal outbreaks are occurring all over Europe, notably in many European countries that had previously eliminated or interrupted endemic transmission.

In January 2019, Romania, Italy, Poland, and France had the highest case counts with 261, 165, 133, and 124 cases, respectively and notable increases were reported in Italy, Poland, France, and Austria.

Measles can spread with minimal contact through the air via infectious droplets when a person coughs or sneezes. It can be prevented with vaccination with measles vaccine (part of the MMR) which is included in the National Immunisation Schedule.

Measles symptoms include the following:

• cold-like symptoms – runny nose, sneezing
• signs the body is fighting infection – high fever, tiredness, loss of appetite, muscle aches
• red, watery eyes (conjunctivitis)
• greyish spots in the mouth
• red, raised spots that may merge together becoming blotchy, starting around the hairline two to four days after the initial symptoms, then spreading down over the head, neck and rest of the body

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Johnathan Cilia

Johnathan is an award-winning Maltese journalist interested in social justice, politics, minority issues, music and food. Follow him at @supreofficialmt on Instagram, and send him news, food and music stories at [email protected]