Jared Laureles
La Jornada newspaper
Sunday, September 14, 2025, p. 7
Faced with measles outbreak in the country, which has claimed the lives of at least 19 people, the Ministry of Health (SSA) announced that next week a megacenter of vaccination will be established at the University Olympic Stadium, where doses will be applied for the population from six months to 49 years of age.
Following the alert for the first infections that occurred this year in the country, especially in Chihuahua, the health authorities have intensified the immunization campaign against this disease. The application of the vaccine is free and safe, and protects in more than 95 percent against the virus.
Samantha Gaertner, director of the Childhood and Adolescence Health Care Program of the SSA, said that measles can last about 21 days in a infected person.
He emphasized that when a positive case is confirmed, the recommendation is to stay at home, since an infected person can infect 18 more.
He explained that a child with symptoms such as fever, nasal runoff and eye irritation, but mainly skin rashes, is a possible case of measles, so it is important to go to the health unit so that the doctor performs an analysis.
In an interview spread by the SSA, the specialist indicated that this disease is confirmed by a laboratory test; The treatment, he added, does not require antibiotic, unless the patient had a complication such as pneumonia.
He stressed that it is important to wash your hands, since the virus has the ability to survive in the environment and on surfaces, and not self -medicate.
People interested in receiving the vaccine will be able to go with their National Health card to parking number three of the University Olympic Stadium, from September 17 to 19.
Until September 12, 4,553 measles cases had been confirmed in Mexico; The confirmed deaths add 19, according to the daily report of the SSA.
The virus is present in 97 municipalities of 23 entities in the country. Although Chihuahua concentrates 92.9 percent of all infections, with 4,231 cases, there is also a high prevalence in Sonora, Coahuila, Guerrero, Durango, Zacatecas, Michoacán, Sinaloa, Campeche, Tamaulipas, Baja California Sur, Mexico City and Oaxaca.
The most affected age group is that of children from zero to four years of age, with one thousand 109 cases, followed by young people aged 25 to 29, with 586, and adults from 30 to 34 years, with 483.
In October, the campaign for the winter time will begin, with the goal of reaching 95 percent of the population, the SSA reported.
