TIRANA, March 13 – The measles epidemic that has been affecting children under one-year-old who are still too young for vaccination has become even more serious this week as hospitals also saw cases of adults touched by the virus.
Tirana’s hospital infection wing reported seven cases of individuals presenting measles symptoms on a daily basis, a big part of which result to be positive.
“In the first two weeks of March alone we’ve had 50 cases of measles symptoms,” doctor Arjan Harxhi told local media.
In addition, doctors said these cases represent adults who have not received anti-measles vaccination or have created enough antigens, enabling the virus to infect them again.
For the moment, only seven cases of adults being heavily infected are reported to be under observation at the hospital’s infection wing.
“They have shown symptoms of pneumonia, but luckily so far no one has showed encephalitis,” Harxhi added.
The total number of cases touched by the measles epidemic so far amounts to 271, with the majority being children under one year old. Lighter cases of measles infection are sent home, advised by doctors to remain isolated in order to avoid infecting other family members.
