The Ministry of Health of the province ruled out the probable case of measles whose epidemiological alert was notified on October 13 by the province and the Nation.
The suspicion arose due to the symptoms presented by a 20-year-old man with a history of vaccination with one dose of triple viral vaccine, without recent travel.
The young man had presented with cough, cold and arthralgia (pain in the joints) on October 3, and three days later he experienced a vesicular rash and thrush-type lesions in the mouth, so after the consultation the suspicion was reported. Then the young man’s health evolved favorably with lesions that progressed to scabs.
The Ministry of Health detailed that in the first serum sample studied, three days after the rash, positive immunoglobulin G (IgG) results were obtained for measles and rubella and negative immunoglobulin M (IgM) for both viruses.
In the second serum sample, 7 days after the onset of the rash, the IgM for measles was positive in the ELISA test (used to detect antibodies in the blood) both in the Reference Laboratory of the province of Salta and at the National Reference Laboratory (LNR) of the National Administration of Laboratories and Health Institutes (ANLIS) Malbrán.
But the samples for viral detection (urine and nasopharyngeal swab) taken in a timely manner were negative for measles and rubella in the RT-PCR test.
The Ministry of Health explained that “considering the presence of IgG Antibodies in the early serum sample, the history of vaccination in childhood and the absence of detection of measles virus, studies were carried out for other differential diagnoses – suspecting that the positive result was due to a serological crossing with an infection by another different virus – resulting in a positive result by RT-PCR for the varicella-zoster virus in the respiratory sample.
The Health portfolio added that during the epidemiological investigation the source of infection was not identified and all family members (and contacts from other areas) who were reviewed and monitored are asymptomatic.
In conclusion, suspicion of measles was ruled out. Despite this relief, the health portfolio highlighted the importance of maintaining high vaccination coverage.
Vaccination
Public Health recalled that to sustain the achievements of measles elimination and avoid the reintroduction of the virus to the country, it is necessary to achieve and sustain high vaccination coverage (95 percent), with two doses of measles vaccine (double or triple viral). and a sensitive surveillance system capable of timely detecting suspicious cases and thus preventing their reintroduction and dissemination.
2023-11-06 03:21:56
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