“From a certain degree of vaccination, collective immunity works. The more contagious the disease, the more vaccinated people need to be vaccinated for herd immunity to occur. While 80 percent vaccination is sufficient for polio, it must be higher for other diseases, for example, 95 percent for measles,” said SPZ expert Ludmila Plšková.
With age according to her, immunity decreases, roughly seven percent of people refuse vaccinations, and in some diseases, such as tuberculosis, according to her, the influence of migration can also be seen. “In any case, it must be taken into account that that if the vaccination rate in the population decreases, we will encounter certain diseases more often, than we were used to,” she added.
Vaccination with the so-called hexavaccine is mandatory and enforced, for example, for admission to kindergarten, with the exception of the last year against polio, tetanus, diphtheria, whooping cough, jaundice B and the disease caused by the bacterium Haemophilus influenzae type ba with the measles, rubella and mumps vaccine.
At least one dose of hexavacciney had 96 percent of births the year before. For revaccination with four combinations against diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus and polio at the age of five and ten, the vaccination rate is between 86 and 90 percent population year. Vaccination rates are lower for optional vaccinations, which are often not fully covered by public health insurance. With pneumococci and meningococci 70 to 75 percent, with human papillomavirus 70 percent in girls and 43 percent in boys, with tick-borne encephalitis 40 percent.
According to SZÚ data, by the end of March, apart from whooping cough, whose current number of cases is the highest since 1959, the number of different types of jaundice or the tropical diseases dengue and malaria also increased year-on-year. After a lull during the covid epidemic, doctors are also registering 14 cases of measles this year. These have been in individuals in recent years, or no case has occurred, in 2019 there were 590 of them.
The year before last in Europe discovered cases of mpox, previously referred to as monkeypox. There were 71 cases in 2022, and 14 in the first quarter of this year. The infection is manifested by a rash, often in the genital area, and flu-like symptoms. It is most often transmitted during sex, last year most in men having sex with men.
From 2020 the number of patients with scabies, which is caused by the parasitic scabies mite, is gradually increasing. People become infected with it when they come into contact with the sick person’s skin, clothes or bedding. Last year, over 9,000 were infected, this year 2,700. Diphtheria is gradually increasing, last year there were seven cases in the whole year, this year so far eight.
There is also significantly more legionellosis at the beginning of this year than last year. Unlike other infections, it is not transmitted between people, it is caused by infected water that remains in the pipes, unless the water is heated to more than 70 degrees Celsius. The infection can cause severe pneumonia, so hygienists recommend not trying to save energy money on water heating. There were 340 cases last year, and 104 so far this year.
According to the earlier statement of the SZÚ, there is no single reason for the increase. For example, for diseases against which vaccination exists, experts talk about a lower willingness to have children vaccinated or a different composition of vaccines. According to experts, the fact that the population and doctors do not encounter them often and sometimes it takes time to detect them also has an effect on some diseases. The decrease in the previous three years was again influenced by anti-covid measures.
