Measles spike: Samples to be tested for virus mutation

“Usually if children have taken two shots of the vaccine, chances of contracting the virus are rare. These year, we are seeing children being affected despite immunisation. So we are sending samples to the NCDC to check for possible mutations of the virus,” Dr D K Dewan, Director of Family Welfare department said.

The NCDC guidelines has asked for a three-pronged diagnostic approach to check for mutations. For every patient, doctors have to collect blood, throat swabs and urine.

The blood will have to be left for an hour to clot and then sent in a vaccine carrier to the lab headquarters in Civil Lines. Throat swabs of all patients should be transported “under cold conditions”. Urine samples too have to be transported in a standard cold chain system.

“A proforma was released so that we can ensure standardisation in testing. It will take us another 2-3 weeks to be able to identify the strain of the virus,” a senior scientist at NCDC said.

Delhi government, meanwhile, rubbished fears of any lacunae in vaccine administration or storage, saying government laboratories maintained “the best cold chains”.

“Unlike private laboratories, our refrigerators are on round the clock. Our cold chains are the best, far better than private players,” an official said.

He said the government vaccines used automatic lock syringes, which get locked after a single shot, to  eliminate errors and/or  reuse.
The survey also found 85,000 children who had not been given measles vaccine. They were given shots after the survey.

The Delhi government has also announced a mop-up drive to target children who have missed the vaccine shots. Authorities said the immunisation drive, which will continue till May 31, will administer all shots in the immunisation cycle, barring the pentavalent vaccine.