Measles

Two patients died within a week in the University Clinical Center of Kosovo as the number of patients affected with measles has risen sharply lately, marking the first year that Kosovo has seen cases spike since the war in Kosovo ended in 1999.

Fatmir Bqiri, 37 years old from municipality of Lipjan died on Monday after 20 days being treated in infections clinic.

The head of Attica's union of freelance pediatricians on Thursday called for a more aggressive response to the growing anti-vaccination movement in the wake of warnings by the Center for Disease Prevention and Control (KEELPNO) of a spike in measles.

At least 350,000 children in Greece, aged 15 months to 4 years old, are in danger of being exposed to measles as they have either not received vaccination at all or received it incorrectly. The number of Greeks born after 1970 who have received a dose – or none – of the measles vaccine remains unknown. The shocking data was revealed by professor of

Health authorities in Greece have issued a public appeal to participate in vaccination and booster shot programs following a spike in measles cases in the country amid an outbreak in Europe.

The Greek Center for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday that 166 cases had been reported in the country in 2016-17, with an increase in recent days.

The danger of measles spreading in Greece is real, the Health Ministry said Friday, pointing to a recent spike in infections in the last four months.

It said that some 100 cases of measles have been reported since June, a significant rise given that, before this period, the rate stood at roughly one infection per year.

The largest outbreak of measles in the country in Stolipinovo is already subsiding. No new cases have been reported in the neighborhood in Plovdiv in the last week, Todor Kantardzhiev, the director of the National Center for Contagious and Parasitic Diseases, announced on Monday before the Bulgarian National Television.

Hungarian health authorities have quarantined a hospital in Mako, southeast Hungary, after declaring a measles epidemic, and warned on Thursday that the virus might have come from over the border in Romania, where there has been an outbreak in recent months.

Mother Halime Sare Aysal and father Mustafa Aysal did not want to have their newborn baby vaccinated with the vaccines the Health Ministry defines as "compulsory." 

The U?ak Provincial Directorate of the Family and Social Policies Ministry took the couple to court in 2012. The ministry demanded a court order so that the couple's child would be vaccinated.

Romania's Health Ministry is working on a draft project to ban unvaccinated children from attending nurseries, kindergartens or schools. Under the plan, parents could also be fined if they do not vaccinate their children.

At least 6,000 Syrian refugee children, who recently entered Turkey following a U.S.-led air offensive in northeast Syria, have been vaccinated by Turkish health officials against measles and polio.