While the World Health Organization warned last February of a worrying increase in measles cases in Europe and around the world, France was already recording cases. Since mid-January, dozens of cases of measles have been reported in the metropolitan area of Lyon, the third largest city in France.
1 min
To date, 33 cases have been reported in three schools and a daycare center in eastern Lyon since January 22, but others are still under investigation.
Even if the number of cases remains low, local health authorities insist on the need to strengthen prevention measures, in particular by staying at home if you experience symptoms.
Because measles is a highly contagious disease, a patient can contaminate up to twenty people in direct or indirect contact with them.
Read alsoMeasles: WHO warns of an explosion of cases around the world
A start of a local epidemic
The department’s Regional Health Agency recalls that vaccination is a 95% effective preventive measure against measles, a disease which manifests itself by high fever, cough and runny nose or even red eyes.
Confirmed cases mainly concern children. Around ten of these cases occurring in a private school group are believed to be linked to the contamination of a child during a trip to the United Arab Emirates.
On the other hand, the other contaminations recorded in a public school, a private college and a nursery have no link with the first outbreak or with each other, which confirms the hypothesis of the start of a local measles epidemic.