Number of measles cases drop again; most clusters now dying out

A total of 25 new measles cases were registered last week, which is another drop compared to the week before. The clusters in the schools in Amsterdam, Almere, The Hague, and Helmond are starting to die out, the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) reported. Only a primary school in Rotterdam is reporting new cases.

The RIVM reported last week that a cluster had occurred in a child day care in the Hollands Midden GGD region, which areas like Leiden and Gouda fall under. Several new cases have been reported there.

There have now been 310 confirmed cases of measles since the start of the year. That is the highest number of cases since there was an outbreak in 2013. Most of the patients are not vaccinated and have not had measles before.

Measles often occurs in children under the age of 10. Many of the cases have been at public, Islamic, and anthroposophical schools. There have also been 27 cases of people picking up measles in Morocco and three people who picked up the virus in Romania. In addition, one person in the Netherlands was infected with measles in Thailand, where there is a large outbreak, and one was infected in Belgium.

The disease causes spots on the skin and infected eyes. Most people get past the infection themselves, but complications can occur on rare occasions. These can lead to lung infections or meningitis.