Vaccine

The measles outbreak in Greece is showing no signs of slowing down, with the Center for Disease Prevention and Control (KEELPNO) saying Thursday that there have been 1,829 recorded cases since last May.

The center said the number of cases doubled in the first two months of the year, compared to 922 reported in late December.

Greece's third measles-related death in under a year last week has raised concerns among health authorities that are seeking to increase vaccinations, particularly among vulnerable groups such as health workers and individuals born in or before the 1970s, who may have had the first booster but never followed up with the second.

The woman, whose initials are M.M. and who died in Belgrade's Clinic for Infectious and Tropical Diseases, is the fifth victim in Serbia, and the third in the capital.

Two patients - a 2-year-old child and a woman who had recently given birth - died in Nis, southern Serbia.

Outbreaks of measles increased 400% in Europe last year, with the World Health Organization (WHO) warning the highly contagious virus has regained a foothold due to immunization decline and vaccine supply problems.

American molecular biologists have created and successfully tested experimental nanoparticles against all strains of influenza A virus that cause the most serious epidemics. The news is published in an article in Nature Communications magazine.

A measles outbreak which began last May is showing no sign of abating, with Greece's union of public hospital workers (POEDIN) on Tuesday announcing three new cases, bringing the total number recorded close to 1,200.

Serbian Health Minister Zlatibor Loncar confirmed on Wednesday that an unvaccinated man from Belgrade had died from measles, which has spread across Serbia since an outbreak was first reported in November.

"This problem can't be solved until we are all vaccinated," Loncar told the press, calling on parents to protect their children's health.

Vaccines used in Turkey are “extremely safe,” as they undergo very “tight checks” during the stages of production and distribution, said the Health Ministry in a statement it issued on Dec. 26, Anadolu Agency has reported.

A 20-year-old man from Belgrade has died in a hospital's intensive care unit from complications caused by measles, RTS is reporting.

He is the first victim of measles in Serbia. The patient had not been inoculated against the infectious disease.

The number of families who refuse to have their children vaccinated due to the unfounded rumor that aluminum in vaccines can lead to Alzheimer’s has risen to over 10,000 per year, according to Prof. Dr. Mehmet Ceyhan, the head of the Hacettepe University Hospital Pediatric Infectious Diseases Unit.