A measles outbreak in Samoa has already killed 72 people, with over 5,000 cases of the disease registered in the country, which has a population of less than 200,000, the Samoan government said.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th December, 2019) A measles outbreak in Samoa has already killed 72 people, with over 5,000 cases of the disease registered in the country, which has a population of less than 200,000, the Samoan government said.
The country's health ministry declared a measles epidemic on October 16 after the first deaths were reported. On Sunday, the death toll stood at 65.
"Latest update: 5,154 measles cases have been reported since the outbreak with 74 recorded in the last 24 hours. To date, 72 measles-related deaths have been recorded," it said on Twitter.
As of Friday, 93 percent of the country's population had been vaccinated, the government added.
According to the government, children aged four and younger account for more than 90 percent of all lethal cases.
Measles is a highly contagious viral disease that starts in the respiratory system. Its spread has been steadily on the rise since 2016.
The World Health Organization said in August that the number of measles cases registered in the first half of 2019 was three times higher than during the same period last year, with the highest number of instances recorded in Ukraine, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Madagascar.
