The situation with the measles outbreak is serious, said Baiba Rozentale, head of the Latvian Infectology Center, in an interview with the Latvian Television program "Morning Panorama," LETA reports.
She predicts that the further development of the situation will be "not so favorable," as, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 14,000 children under the age of 17 have not received a single measles vaccination.
The specialist emphasized that this is a highly contagious and serious disease that spreads through the respiratory tract of the infected person, enters the air, and can remain viable for up to two hours. The infected person remains contagious for a long time, explained Rozentale.
In her assessment, the situation is serious but expected, as Europe has seen measles outbreaks for the past ten years for various reasons, largely due to insufficient vaccination coverage.
As previously reported, Latvia has registered its first measles outbreak since 2018. As of March 17, five cases of measles have been registered, including three laboratory-confirmed cases—two among schoolchildren and one among an adult—as well as two suspected cases among schoolchildren, with laboratory results still pending. All registered cases are epidemiologically linked.
As Ilze Udre, a representative of the CDC, previously informed the LETA agency, the number of identified contacts is very high—at least 800 people. This includes contacts identified in educational institutions as well as outside them—in the patients' families, at public events, on international transport, and in other places.
Udre also acknowledged that the risk of further spread of the infection, especially among unvaccinated individuals, is assessed as high. It is impossible to identify all contacts, especially random contacts in public places.
The CDC established that one of the infected individuals traveled on the "Ecolines" bus route Riga—Gulbene—Riga. On March 13, the person departed from the Riga bus station at 8:00 AM to Gulbene, and on March 15 at 1:50 PM, they departed from the Gulbene bus station back to Riga.
The CDC urges all passengers who traveled on these routes to contact the center's epidemiologists at the 24-hour phone number 67 271 738 or by email at dezurants.riga@spkc.gov.lv to assess the possible risk of infection and receive recommendations for further actions.
