Measles outbreak in Nigeria

[Gert van der Hoek]

Last Updated: Tuesday, 19 June 2007, 11:12 GMT 12:12 UK


Measles kills Nigerian children

At least 60 children are believed to have died in an outbreak of measles in Nigeria's north-eastern Borno State.

About 400 children were affected by the epidemic which broke out last week.

More than two dozen were reported to have died on Monday. Measles is quite common in northern Nigeria in the early days of the rainy season.

Children with reddish spots on their skin are being taken to hospitals in Maiduguri, a doctor at a teaching hospital there told the BBC.

He said he feared the toll could be higher than local media reports.

About 25 measles deaths were recorded in Konduga area alone on Monday, local council official Kaka Ali Yale told Nigerian daily, The Guardian.

Areas that are worst hit by the measles epidemic include Konduga, Jere, Damboa and Bama local government areas.

State public health workers have been deployed to the affected areas to try to prevent a further spread of the disease, officials say.

Air-borne epidemics are common in Borno State, a semi-arid region with poor health services.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6767263.stm

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Measles outbreak in Nigeria

Measles kills at least 20 children in Nigeria

19 Jun 2007 13:20:18 GMT

Source: Reuters

MJIMTILO, Nigeria, June 19 (Reuters) - At least 20 children have died from a measles outbreak in a village in northeastern Nigeria, residents and health officials said on Tuesday.

About 50 other children are being treated for the virus, which is highly contagious and frequently kills children in poor countries, authorities said.

"We have received reports of more than 20 people killed by measles and airborne diseases," said Abdulrahman Usman, director of disease control at the health ministry in Borno state.

"We have despatched our staff to reinforce health workers in the area to bring the situation under control," he added.

Residents of Mjimtilo, a grass hut village about 3 miles (5 km) outside the Borno state capital, said the epidemic took them by surprise.

"I never knew that measles could be so devastating. I lost two children to the disease and my neighbours have equally lost their children," said Musa Ahmadu.

"We are at a loss as to what to do. You can see some of neighbours are fleeing the village," he added.

Usman said the government was trying to cordon off the village to stop the spread of the disease.

Measles is an air-borne virus which has been largely wiped out in many rich nations because of vaccinations, but remains a big killer of children in the poor world, particularly when combined with malnutrition.

Symptoms include coughing, a runny nose and slight fever in the first stage, then a red rash that spreads over the body and lasts for about five days.

Complications can include pneumonia, middle ear infections, swelling of the brain and seizures.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L19822949.htm

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Measles outbreak in Nigeria

Measles hit over 400 children in Nigeria`s Borno state


Lagos, Nigeria 06/20 - An outbreak of measles has killed 60 children aged between six months and 12 years in Nigeria`s northern state of Borno, the local media reported Tuesday.

The epidemic, which broke out in the state capital, Maiduguri, and its environs a few days ago, has so far affected some 400 children, the report quoted officials of the affected areas as saying.

The worst-affected areas include the Maiduguri council, where 125 children have been treated for the measles, an acute and highly contagious viral disease marked by distinct red spots followed by a rash, which occurs primarily in children.

Other badly hit councils are Borno, Konduga (25) deaths each, as well as Jere and Bama (20 deaths each).

Konduga council secretary, Kaka Ali Yale, was quoted as saying communities without access to health centres have been supplied with drugs and drips for the treatment of the disease.

http://www.angolapress-angop.ao/noticia-e.asp?ID=539755

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Measles outbreak in Nigeria

EDITORIAL

The measles epidemic in Borno

Friday, July 27, 2007

Recently, 60 children between the ages of six months and 12 years were reported to have lost their lives to a measles epidemic in Borno State. Reports indicate that the children fell to the easily vaccine-preventable disease which broke out in Maiduguri, and quickly spread to Konduga, Jere, Damboa and Bama local council areas.

A total of 400 children were reported to be infected with 125 children receiving treatment at the Maiduguri Specialist Hospital and Bulunkutu Clinic. Konduga Council was reported to have lost 25 out of 105 children infected while 40 people between the ages of six months and 21 years died in Jere and Bama council areas.

The Council Secretary of Konduga, Alhaji Kaka Ali Yale, confirmed the casualties. He identified Konduga as worst hit by the infection with Jimtillo, a village on the outskirts of Maiduguri, losing eight of its affected children.

Yale disclosed that communities and villages that do not have access to health centres were being provided with drugs and drips to treat their infected children. Red-spotted skin and high fever have been identified as major symptoms of the very infectious disease.

The loss of so many children to the measles outbreak in Borno State is regrettable. It is a sad and an unexpected development considering the fact that measles is an infection that could easily have been prevented with timely vaccination of the affected children. We urge the state government to move quickly to address and contain this epidemic to avoid future occurrence.

It is good that the affected communities and villages that do not have access to health centres are being provided with drugs to battle the epidemic as the Konduga council secretary has indicated, but we do not see why any community in the state and other parts of Nigeria should not have an accessible medical centre.

The state government will need to work harder to provide primary health care facilities for all communities in the state, while also educating the people on the importance of immunisation of children against the vaccine ? preventable, common childhood diseases. Efforts must be made to ensure that all children are vaccinated as and when due.

The infection of as many as 400 children and the loss of 60 to measles in the recent epidemic is suggestive of a failure of the vaccination programme in the affected parts of the State.

It is important for the state government to determine whether the epidemic occurred as a result of lapses in immunisation coverage of the areas. The government should also be interested to know if the infected children were immunized against measles and if they were, the reason for the failure of the vaccines to prevent this epidemic.

A full scale probe should be ordered to provide answers to these salient questions.

If the epidemic is discovered to be the result of a failure of the health care system in the affected areas, government must move quickly to revamp the system to ensure that we do not have a repeat of this ugly incident.

It is not good enough that our leaders live in obscene opulence and travel abroad for Medicare while the people daily battle with disease and want. The health care needs of the people must be effectively addressed.

We commiserate with the families who lost their young ones to this unfortunate incident. The greatest tribute the government can pay to the young departed souls is to ensure that such avoidable tragedies are not allowed to recur.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/opinion/editorial/2007/july/27/editorial-27-07-2007-001.htm

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Measles outbreak in Nigeria

Nigeria: Measles On Rampage



EDITORIAL

1 February 2008


Abuja

About 300 Nigerian children may have been killed by measles in the past few weeks. The number of fatalities is expected to hit 50, 000 by the year's end. In most parts of northern Nigeria, it is an emergency!

From Kaduna to Sokoto, Katsina to Zamfara and Kebbi; from Jigawa to Yobe, Bauchi, Gombe and Borno states, the communicable disease is on a rampage of human destruction.

Health Minister Professor Adenike Grange has confirmed that the situation requires the urgent intervention of the federal government, though she has observed that certain infectious diseases are now striking people in states that had rejected vaccines in the past.

Measles is not the only deadly disease now on rampage in the country. Cholera, which could kill its victim within 24 hours, is also wreaking havoc in Edo, Delta and Bayelsa as it does in Borno, Jigawa and Bauchi states. Yellow fever, Lassa fever, cerebro-spinal meningitis, and avian influenza have been reported in a dozen states of the country and Abuja.

Preventive and containment measures should be sought quickly in the affected communities. Let nobody blame it on witches and wizards or poison givers. The first step is for people to notify the appropriate health authorities of any outbreak of a disease in their communities. Health officials at all levels should also intensify their surveillance activities. As meetings after meetings are being held in the health ministries, the number of casualties keeps rising.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200802010442.html