Measles alarm in Liguria and Italy: Bassetti warns of epidemic

"We are facing a real measles emergency." In Liguria alone there have been "12 cases in the last 20 days", with "4 hospitalized here at the San Martino Polyclinic" in Genoa for "pulmonary, neurological and liver complications". This is "an unprecedented epidemic outbreak in this region", which however reflects a more widespread problem: "We are only at the beginning of a very serious epidemic which will probably affect not only Liguria, but Italy in general". Matteo Bassetti, director of the Infectious Diseases Clinic of the Irccs San Martino, raises the alarm in a video on his social profiles, in the hours in which the Ministry of Health is raising its guard with a circular that invites us to strengthen surveillance systems and promote targeted vaccination campaigns, in light of an increase in measles cases and hospitalizations, with a growing trend that is particularly evident in Campania, Calabria, Lazio and Tuscany.

The numbers "evidently bring attention to this disease which is anything but a banal disease", warns Bassetti. "Measles is a serious disease, a very serious disease", he insists. "In general throughout the world - continues the infectious disease specialist - measles is circulating a lot. Why? Because people have not been vaccinated. There are those who were born in the 80s and 90s who have not had the vaccination, and unfortunately there are many children who have not had the vaccination, despite it being mandatory", observes the doctor. "All this causes the virus to circulate, and circulate heavily."