N. Waziristan measles outbreak kills 12 - Central Asia Online

MIRANSHAH – Measles has killed 12 children during the past three weeks in North Waziristan Agency and is spreading fast because of a shortage of medicines, media reported May 14.

Mohammad Ali Shah, medical superintendent of Miranshah’s main hospital, said it was receiving 5 to 10 child measles patients daily, Dawn reported. He said measles typically kills 1 or 2 children a year.

Shah blamed the shortage of vaccine on curfews, military operations and long power outages, which prevented his hospital from storing the medicine properly, according to media.

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Measles kills 12 children in North Waziristan - The Express Tribune

An outbre­ak of measle­s in North Waziri­stan has killed 12 childr­en in three weeks. An outbreak of measles in North Waziristan has killed 12 children in three weeks.

MIRANSHAH: An outbreak of measles in North Waziristan has killed 12 children in three weeks and is spreading due to a shortage of medicines, doctors said Monday.

Doctor Mohammad Ali Shah, chief of the main hospital in Miranshah, the biggest town in North Waziristan, told AFP that military operations, power cuts and curfews meant there was a shortage of medicines.

“For the past three weeks we are daily receiving five to 10 children suffering from measles,” Shah said, adding that he would normally see only one or two deaths from the disease in a year.

“We do not have proper storage for measles vaccination because of long power outages and curfews and most of our stock expires due to these reasons.”

He urged the government to send mobile vaccination teams to the area and warned of a possible typhoid outbreak if action was not taken promptly.

“Inoculation teams have not visited the area for a long time and that is the reason for the spread of such diseases,” he said.

Measles is highly contagious and spread by a virus that is easily prevented by proper immunisation but can be fatal.

It caused nearly 140,000 deaths worldwide in 2010, according to the World Health Organisation – 95% in low income countries with poor health infrastructure.

Another doctor, Mohammad Sadiq, said 12 children and a man had died from measles, and that there were up to 70 confirmed cases in hospital.

Local government officials were not available to comment.

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Collateral damage?: Measles outbreak kills 12 children in Waziristan - The Express Tribune

Doctor­s warn the virus is spread­ing quickl­y due to fighti­ng, power cuts and curfew­s. Doctors warn the virus is spreading quickly due to fighting, power cuts and curfews.

MIRAMSHAH: 

A measles outbreak has killed 12 children in the North Waziristan tribal region and is spreading as fighting, power cuts and curfews cause a vaccine shortage, doctors said on Monday.

North Waziristan, which is infamous for its alleged Taliban and al Qaeda sanctuaries, is frequently hit by US drone strikes.

“For the past three weeks we are daily receiving five to 10 children suffering from measles,” said Dr Muhammad Ali Shah, chief of the agency headquarters hospital in Miramshah. He would normally see only one or two deaths a year from the disease, he said.

But another doctor, Mohammad Sadiq, said 12 children and a man had died from measles in the last three weeks, and that there were up to 70 confirmed cases in hospital.

The UN children’s agency UNICEF said there had been 143 measles alerts this year in the seven tribal agencies of the country.

The measles virus is highly contagious and can be fatal, but can easily be prevented by proper immunisation.

However Shah said: “We do not have proper storage for measles vaccination because of long power outages and curfews and most of our stock expires due to these reasons.”

Poverty and poor transport facilities mean villagers in the rugged, mountainous areas cannot come to hospitals for treatment, he added, while military operations and unrest mean vaccination teams cannot reach them.

“There is accumulation of significant number of unvaccinated children in different parts of this region which are revealing as outbreaks or alerts from time to time,” said Dr Quamrul Hasan of the World Health Organisation (WHO).

WHO and local health officials are to carry out a supplementary campaign in the tribal areas aimed at vaccinating more than a million children aged under 10 by the end of June, he said.

Polio vaccination campaigns in tribal areas have in the past suffered because of rumours – sometimes spread by radio stations or from mosque loudspeakers – they were a Western conspiracy to sterilise children to reduce the Muslim population.

But UNICEF said work had been done to tackle misconceptions and there was less suspicion of the measles vaccine, administered by injection, than of the orally-administered polio dose.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 15th, 2012.

View the original article here

Collateral damage?: Measles outbreak kills 12 children in Waziristan - The Express Tribune

Doctor­s warn the virus is spread­ing quickl­y due to fighti­ng, power cuts and curfew­s. Doctors warn the virus is spreading quickly due to fighting, power cuts and curfews.

MIRAMSHAH: 

A measles outbreak has killed 12 children in the North Waziristan tribal region and is spreading as fighting, power cuts and curfews cause a vaccine shortage, doctors said on Monday.

North Waziristan, which is infamous for its alleged Taliban and al Qaeda sanctuaries, is frequently hit by US drone strikes.

“For the past three weeks we are daily receiving five to 10 children suffering from measles,” said Dr Muhammad Ali Shah, chief of the agency headquarters hospital in Miramshah. He would normally see only one or two deaths a year from the disease, he said.

But another doctor, Mohammad Sadiq, said 12 children and a man had died from measles in the last three weeks, and that there were up to 70 confirmed cases in hospital.

The UN children’s agency UNICEF said there had been 143 measles alerts this year in the seven tribal agencies of the country.

The measles virus is highly contagious and can be fatal, but can easily be prevented by proper immunisation.

However Shah said: “We do not have proper storage for measles vaccination because of long power outages and curfews and most of our stock expires due to these reasons.”

Poverty and poor transport facilities mean villagers in the rugged, mountainous areas cannot come to hospitals for treatment, he added, while military operations and unrest mean vaccination teams cannot reach them.

“There is accumulation of significant number of unvaccinated children in different parts of this region which are revealing as outbreaks or alerts from time to time,” said Dr Quamrul Hasan of the World Health Organisation (WHO).

WHO and local health officials are to carry out a supplementary campaign in the tribal areas aimed at vaccinating more than a million children aged under 10 by the end of June, he said.

Polio vaccination campaigns in tribal areas have in the past suffered because of rumours – sometimes spread by radio stations or from mosque loudspeakers – they were a Western conspiracy to sterilise children to reduce the Muslim population.

But UNICEF said work had been done to tackle misconceptions and there was less suspicion of the measles vaccine, administered by injection, than of the orally-administered polio dose.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 15th, 2012.

View the original article here