A decrease in the incidence of measles was registered in Kyrgyzstan. Director of the Republican Center for Immunoprophylaxis at the Ministry of Health, Gulbara Ishenapysova, told 24.kg news agency.
According to her, since the beginning of the year, about 1,300 cases of the disease have been registered in the republic. Most of all cases were recorded in Bishkek, Jalal-Abad and Osh regions and several isolated cases — in other regions.
«There has been a decrease in the incidence of disease since March,» she added.
She noted that coverage of the population by vaccination has been taking place since last year. «If in 2017 in Bishkek and Chui region, the coverage by the vaccination was up to 92 percent, then by the end of 2018 it was already 97 percent. In addition, explanatory work on planned immunization is being carried out with the population and health workers,» she noted.
According to Gulbara Ishenapysova, Kyrgyzstan has requested more than 100,000 doses of rubella-measles vaccine for clean-up immunization from Rospotrebsoyuz. Last year, the Ministry of Health bought more than 30,000 doses.
As part of the clean-up immunization, persons at the age of 6 months to 50 years old, who have been in contact with a patient, have been vaccinated.
At least 1,005 cases of the disease were registered in 2018. About 48 percent are children not vaccinated by age (up to one year). Doctors argue that the only way to protect themselves from the disease — to timely receive vaccination.
