First Measles Cases in Ten Years – This Is How It Went

In recent years, measles has made a comeback in Europe. At least this year, several countries have warned of continued outbreaks of the highly contagious disease.

In the past decade, the county has not seen a single known case of measles. But two people who had recently been abroad were found to have the disease in late July.

The incubation period for the disease ranges from five to 21 days, but it is most common for you to become ill ten to twelve days after being exposed to the infection. And now it has been another week since cases were detected.

– It's not really possible to say hello yet, but with each passing day, the possibility becomes less and less. We haven't had any more cases and we hope there won't be any more. That's also the most likely, says Per Åke Jarnheimer, assistant physician for infectious diseases in Kalmar County.

When is it possible to get rid of the danger?

– In this particular case, it could take up to next week, but with each passing day, the probability is getting smaller and smaller. The natural incubation period has already passed. In rare cases, it could take longer than that, but if we had a very large outbreak, it would have been detected by now. I would be very surprised if we had more cases.

Many of them are well protected.

Regarding measles, many people in Sweden are well protected against the disease.

– Most people have either had measles or have been vaccinated. In other countries, vaccination coverage is not as good. Here, in percentage terms, there are very few receptive people. Therefore, it is necessary to expose a large number. Preferably in an environment where there are many unvaccinated people.

Did infection tracking show that many people were infected in this case?

– This type of infection tracing is about health care or close contacts. You can't know if you met someone in the store. It's not possible to trace everyone's infection. Needless to say, other new cases may emerge that have nothing to do with this, says Per Åke Garnheimer.

here You can read more about when measles cases became known.