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D At the end of the week, I will propose to the minister of health in the office, Dr. Galya Kondeva, to declare an epidemic of whooping cough. This is what the chief state health inspector Assoc. Angel Kunchev told journalists.
Assoc. KunchevAssoc. Kunchev participated in a seminar dedicated to vaccines, as part of the celebration of the European Immunization Week. According to him, the incidence of whooping cough in the country continues to increase.
The purpose of announcing the epidemic is to issue an order to the minister to start vaccinating newborns earlier, and not as before – after reaching two months of age. In this way, it will be possible to vaccinate babies at the age of one and a half months, he added.
Whooping cough, also known as whooping cough, is an acute respiratory infection that occurs with a characteristic convulsive cough, according to the “Plus Men” site, created by the Ministry of Health to promote immunizations. The causative agents of whooping cough are released with sprays and droplets of secretions from the larynx, trachea and bronchi, which fall into the air during breathing, coughing and speaking. To isolate the causative agent Bordetella pertussis at the beginning of the disease, a nasopharyngeal secretion is taken from the patient (preferably in the morning on an empty stomach). The PCR method is more sensitive. The incubation period is on average 7-10 days. The most common complications affect the respiratory tract and the central nervous system, and the development of pneumonia is also possible, which can lead to a fatal outcome.
Earlier today, before the parliamentary committee on health, the acting minister, Dr. Galya Kondeva, announced that the warehouse of the Ministry of Health (MoH) has enough pertussis vaccines for children aged two months to two years, who are most vulnerable to the disease. The declaration of an epidemic of whooping cough is separate for each region of the country – 60-70% of the sick are in Sofia, and for now there are no grounds for declaring an epidemic, Kondeva commented. Until Monday, we have good immunization coverage for whooping cough – 92.4% in the last year, added the healthy minister. The official minister stressed that the Ministry of Health constantly monitors the disease. Since the beginning of the year, a total of 314 positive cases of whooping cough have been registered, and the disease puts newborns at risk in the first year of their birth. The highest prevalence is in the city of Sofia – 214 cases.
