Communicated ARS 📢 Since the start of the year, the number of measles increases in Occitania. In a national and international context of resurgence of this disease which can be serious, the Regional Health Agency Occitanie recalls that the best way to protect itself and limit the propagation of the virus is to be vaccinated!
Since the beginning of 2025, A case of measles has been declared in Ariège. This isolated case, however, is part of a broader context: 90 cases were confirmed in Occitania between January and June 2025, according to Public Health France, and 735 cases at the national level. In the majority of cases, infected people are not or insufficiently vaccinated (1 dose).
In Occitania to date, measles measles-eraillon-rubele (ROR) vaccine coverage at 2 doses is estimated at 85.5 % in children at the age of 33 months, below the 95 % threshold recommended by the WHO to eliminate the disease.
To protect yourself and protect the most fragile, a single reflex: vaccination
The ROR vaccine is recommended from the age of one year, but also in adults born after 1980. Consult your health book to verify that you are well protected. Health professionals, early childhood professionals and teachers are also strongly encouraged to verify their vaccination status. To vaccinate is also to protect the most fragile which cannot be vaccinated: infants of less than 6 months, pregnant women, immunocompromised people …
A very contagious disease that can be serious
Often wrongly considered benign, measles can cause serious complications (pneumonia, encephalitis, etc.) and hospitalizations. Measles is not just a childhood illness, it also concerns adolescents and adults. It is characterized by a high fever, associated with a cough, a rhinopharyngitis or a conjunctivitis, then by a rash. The measles is 10 times more contagious than the flu, a patient can contaminate 10 to 15 people.
It is very easily transmitted from one person to another through the air, during coughing, hooking, or by contact with contaminated objects (toys, handkerchiefs, etc.).