WHO outraged as measles outbreaks kill 140 000

File picture: Newshub via AP.

File picture: Newshub via AP.

Published Dec 5, 2019

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LONDON - Measles infected nearly 10 million

people in 2018 and killed 140 000, mostly children, as

devastating outbreaks of the viral disease hit every region of

the world, the World Health Organization said on Thursday.

In figures described by its director general as "an

outrage", the WHO said most of last year's measles deaths were

in children under five years old who had not been vaccinated.

"The fact that any child dies from a vaccine-preventable

disease like measles is frankly an outrage and a collective

failure to protect the world's most vulnerable children," said

the WHO's director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreysus.

The picture for 2019 is even worse, the WHO said, with

provisional data up to November showing a three-fold increase

compared with the same period in 2018.

The United States has already reported its highest number of

measles cases in 25 years in 2019, while four countries in

Europe - Albania, the Czech Republic, Greece and Britain – lost

their WHO "measles-free" status in 2018 after suffering large

outbreaks.

An ongoing outbreak of measles in South Pacific nation of

Samoa has infected more than 4200 people and killed more than

60, mostly babies and children, in a battle complicated by a

vocal anti-vaccination movement.

Globally, measles vaccination rates have stagnated for

almost a decade, the WHO said. It and the UNICEF children's fund

say that in 2018, around 86% of children got a first dose of

measles vaccine through their country's routine vaccination

services, and fewer than 70% got the second dose recommended to

fully protect them from measles infection.

Highly contagious

Measles is one of the most contagious known diseases - more

so than Ebola, tuberculosis or flu. It can linger in the air or

on surfaces for several hours after an infected person has been

and gone - putting anyone not vaccinated at risk.

In some wealthier nations, vaccination rates have been hit

by some parents shunning them for what they say are religious or

philosophical reasons. Mistrust of authority and debunked myths

about links to autism also weaken vaccine confidence and lead

some parents to delay protecting their children.

Research published in October showed that measles infection

not only carries a risk of death or severe complications

including pneumonia, brain damage, blindness and deafness, but

can also damage the victim's immune memory for months or years -

leaving those who survive measles vulnerable to other dangerous

diseases such as flu or severe diarrhoea.

The WHO data showed there were an estimated 9 769 400 cases

of measles and 142 300 related deaths globally in 2018. This

compares to 7 585 900 cases and 124 000 deaths in 2017.

In 2018, measles hit hardest in Liberia, Democratic Republic

of Congo, Madagascar, Somalia and Ukraine, the WHO said, with

these five nations accounting for nearly half of global cases.

Robert Linkins, a specialist at the US Centres for Disease

Control and Prevention, said the data were worrying: "Without

improving measles vaccine coverage we're going to continue to

see these needless deaths. We must turn this trend around."

Reuters

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