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Pupils Inoculated Against Virus
Inoculation against measles and infectious parotitis (mumps) is to be common practice among middle school students in Beijing.
The capital is the first city to list the two diseases in the country's planned inoculation programme.
Measles and infectious parotitis are epidemic diseases caused by an airborne virus. Their incidence climbs to the highest point during winter and spring.
The age group most susceptible is those aged around 15, accounting for 95 per cent of cases.
Besides affecting the parotid gland, infectious parotitis can cause infection and inflammation of other glands.
Measles, if aggravated, may lead to myocarditis, arthritis and central nervous system complications.
A pregnant woman who catches measles may leave the foetus with the same disease.
Experts say babies must be inoculated at the age of one and a half. Another two inoculations will be necessary when they reach six to seven years old and 18 to 19 years old, to strengthen the effect of the vaccine.
All Beijingers within either of the three age groups are required to be vaccinated, including out-of-town students who are just entering university.
In the long run, the municipal government plans to ensure that the inoculations cover 70 to 90 per cent of the city's urban residents and 50 to 80 per cent of those in the suburbs.
According to the Ministry of Health, since China began inoculating children against six major epidemic diseases including polio, measles, diphtheria and pertussis in 1978, the number of people seized by the diseases has declined by 300 million.
About 4 million people have been spared the diseases, and 40 billion yuan (US$4.8 billion) saved.
A total of 85 per cent of the country's children are protected against the six diseases by inoculation.
The average yearly incidence of polio, measles, diphtheria and pertussis added together has been reduced to 117 cases per million in the 1990s. No case of polio has been found for six years running.
Some problems remain, despite these impressive achievements. Many areas in the country's vast hinterland lack funds to provide the service at an acceptable cost.
And the increasing numbers of migrants in recent years pose difficulties in immunity work.
Source: China Daily
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