Introduction: Rubella has been included in the elimination program coordinated by the World Health Organization (WHO) since 2005. Elimination of rubella in the country is possible provided that min. 95% of the vaccination status of the population and monitoring the epidemiological situation, including recording all suspected rubella and conducting laboratory diagnostics at the WHO Reference Laboratory.
Aim: The aims of the present article are to analyze the epidemiological situation of rubella in Poland in 2019 and to discuss the rubella vaccination coverage.
Material and methods: The assessment of the epidemiological situation of rubella in Poland was conducted on the basis of aggregated reports of suspected rubella cases sent to the National Institute of Public Health - National Institute of Hygiene by Voivodeship Sanitary and Epidemiological Stations, and data from the bulletin "Infectious diseases and poisoning in Poland in 2019" and "Vaccinations in Poland in 2019 ".
Results: In 2019, there was a decrease in the number of rubella cases with registered 285 cases (in 2018 - 37 cases), and a decline in incidence (from 1.1 per 100,000 to 0.74). The highest incidence rate, regardless of gender and the environment, was observed among children agded 0-4 years (6.4 per 100,000). In 2019, no cases of congenital rubella syndrome were registered. In 2019, only 3 (1.05%) cases were classified as laboratoryconfirmed cases. The remaining 98.9% (282 cases) were diagnosed on the basis of clinical symptoms.
Conclusions: In 2019, there was a decrease in the number of rubella cases. In Poland rubella in reported exclusively on the basis of the clinical picture. The proportion of laboratory tests confirming/excluding rubella infection is still very low in Poland.
Keywords: 2019; MMR vaccine; Poland; epidemiology; rubella; vaccination status.
© National Institute of Public Health NIH – National Research Institute.