: Taking a lead towards achieving the World Health Organisation (WHO) South-East Asia Region’s ‘Measles Elimination Goal by 2020’, Karnataka has now made it mandatory for every suspected case of measles and rubella to be confirmed through a blood test.
So far, a system of conducting detailed investigations, including blood tests, was being followed only when five or more cases were reported from a particular area. With this transition from outbreak-based surveillance to to case-based surveillance,
Karnataka is the first State in the country to investigate every suspected case of measles and rubella. In 2006, Karnataka was the second State after Kerala to start an outbreak-based surveillance, which is yet to be followed by all States.
According to officials from the WHO Country Office for India, Puducherry will follow Karnataka in adopting the case-based surveillance system from next month.
In 2015, the highest number of cases were reported from Uttar Pradesh, with 365 outbreaks of measles and 25 outbreaks of rubella. So far this year, Uttar Pradesh has recorded 117 measles outbreaks and 45 rubella outbreaks. Bihar has recorded the second highest number of outbreaks of measles with 171 outbreaks in 2015, and 60 outbreaks so far this year.
Lokesh Alahari, WHO’s Sub-Regional Team Leader for Karnataka, told The Hindu that the new method of surveillance would help officials curb the spread of measles and rubella in a community and prevent outbreaks. “Karnataka has a very good healthcare system compared to other States,” he said.
A senior official from the Health Department’s Immunisation Division said that government doctors and laboratory technicians, apart from representatives from government medical colleges, had been trained to report every suspected case of measles and rubella, and collect blood samples and send them to the National Institute of Virology, Bengaluru, where it would be tested for free.
A blood test is a must if a patient, irrespective of age, reports with symptoms of fever and maculopapular rash with cough or running nose or redness of eyes. Even auxiliary nurse midwives, Accredited Social Health Activists and anganwadi or school teachers could report suspected measles cases, the official said.
While vaccination for measles is included under the universal immunisation programme and is given at 9-12 months and 16-24 months, there has been no vaccination for rubella.
“We will now include rubella vaccination along with measles in the immunisation programme. Also, we will soon start a mass vaccination campaign on the lines of the pulse polio immunisation in the State,” the official said. At least 95 per cent of children need to be vaccinated with both the doses if the transmission of measles and rubella had to be checked, he added.
First State to investigate every suspected case towards WHO’s
‘Measles Elimination Goal by 2020’