Second dose of vaccine, immunisation help check the contagious disease

The number of cases of measles is on the decline in Tamil Nadu.

In fact, the number of deaths due to this contagious disease has touched zero in the State, say officials of the Directorate of Public Health (DPH) and Preventive Medicine.

Recently, the World Health Organisation (WHO) drew attention to a spike in the number of measles cases across the globe. But Tamil Nadu has managed to bring down the cases, said officials.

Among the reasons they cite for the decline are the introduction of second dose of measles vaccine at 16 to 24 months of age in 2011, immunisation of children below 15 years in the aftermath of natural disasters such as floods and Measles-Rubella vaccination campaign in 2017.

“Better vaccination coverage is the primary reason for the decline in measles cases. We witnessed a good reduction in the number of cases in the last two years. In fact, we have had the lowest number of cases in the last two years,” said K. Kolandaswamy, Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine.

Immunisation against measles was introduced during the 1980s, he said. According to surveillance data maintained since 1982, there were 10,688 cases and 113 deaths in 1982. It reached a peak in 1986, with 15,557 cases and 194 deaths.

Steady decline

There was a steady decline during the following decade, he said. From 9,818 cases and 74 deaths in 1990, case load dropped to 820 and one death in 2000.

Then, the cases started to soar. “ In 2005, there were 2,423 cases and one death. There were 2,404 cases and three deaths in 2010. The situation was the same during the in-between years. So, we realised that we need to improve our strategy and introduced the second dose of measles vaccine in 2011. Prior to this, there was a single dose on completion of nine months of age.

“Since then, we have had zero deaths due to measles,” Dr. Kolandaswamy said.

The last few years have been significant. The cases dropped from 1,386 in 2015 to 547 in 2016. It reached an all-time low in 2017 with 133 cases.

V. Ramasubramanian, director of medical services and infectious diseases consultant, The Capstone Clinic, confirmed that cases of measles were coming down in the State.

“We have no issue of measles here. Globally, there is a rise in cases due to drop in vaccination rates in Philippines after a dengue vaccine was found to be counter-productive, and a strong anti-vaccine lobby in the U.S.,” he said.

Sustained efforts

Vaccination efforts should continue for sustaining this reduction, experts said. Dr. Kolandaswamy said children aged below 15 years are immunised after any natural disaster.

“Following the floods in December 2015, we immunised roughly 20 lakh children in Chennai, Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram, Cuddalore and Tuticorin.”

The MR vaccination campaign, which met with resistance from a section of parents, covered 1.62 crore children.

“We continue to focus on children of migrant families. Parents should not ignore measles vaccination for their children,” he said.