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Epidemic Hazard in Pakistan on Friday, 28 December, 2012 at 04:53 (04:53 AM) UTC.
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| Description |
Between 500 and 600 cases of measles were reported from different areas of Karachi over the last few weeks and the number of children affected from the potentially deadly, airborne viral disease was on the rise, but provincial health authorities either remained oblivious to the alarming situation or were hiding the facts, medical experts stated on Thursday. "I have seen four cases of measles myself. One was admitted to the Abbasi Shaheed hospital, one at Ziauddin Hospital and two children were brought to my clinic who had measles," Pakistan Pediatric Association (PPA) President Professor Dr Iqbal Memon told The News. He said measles cases had been reported from Saddar, Orangi town, SITE, Sachal Goth, Gadap and Sohrab Goth. "Pediatricians are treating children with measles and also reporting these cases to town health officials and the WHO’s Measles Cell."
"As per my knowledge, between 25 and 30 percent of measles cases of the total in Sindh were from Karachi. We have asked our member pediatricians to report measles cases to provincial and city health officials," he added. Dr Memon said a special vaccination campaign against measles should also be launched in Karachi as children were contracting the viral disease. "Measles is an airborne viral disease and it is a health risk for children who are not vaccinated against it," Dr Iqbal Memon said, adding that the at least one round of measles vaccination was necessary in the metropolis. He suspected that Sindh health officials were more concerned about completing the polio vaccination drive which was cancelled in Karachi on December 18 after the killing of four polio vaccinators. "First they are planning to administer oral polio vaccine drops to children and then they might recognise the measles threat and take measures against the disease."
On the other hand, the Expanded Program on Immunisation (EPI) Sindh Project Director Mazhar Khamesani said no measles cases were reported from Karachi or brought to their knowledge by the city health authorities. "Normally, town officials report the cases to provincial health authorities, but so far no cases have come to the fore," he claimed. He said that EPI Sindh was launching a 10-day campaign in seven districts of Sindh to vaccinate around three million children against measles from Monday, December 31, 2012. The EPI Sindh director said the outbreak of measles was reported from the rain-affected districts of Sindh although there was no laboratory confirmation. "Like polio, measles cases have to be verified from the National Institute of Health (NIH) Islamabad and to my knowledge, so far, the disease has not been detected in any samples," he said. According to him, the districts that would be covered during the 10-day campaign included Khairpur, Sukkur, Shikarpur, Kashmore, Jaccobabad, Larkana and Qambar Shahdadkot. He lamented the fact that many parents do not take their children to doctors and due to the complications; some even children lost their lives. "During the campaign, children from 9 months to 10-years-old would be vaccinated against measles." Khamesani said that under the routine immunisation, children are given two doses of vaccination against measles, one at ninth months and second at their 15th month.
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| Biohazard name: |
Measles |
| Biohazard level: |
2/4 Medium |
| Biohazard desc.: |
Bacteria and viruses that cause only mild disease to humans, or are difficult to contract via aerosol in a lab setting, such as hepatitis A, B, and C, influenza A, Lyme disease, salmonella, mumps, measles, scrapie, dengue fever, and HIV. "Routine diagnostic work with clinical specimens can be done safely at Biosafety Level 2, using Biosafety Level 2 practices and procedures. Research work (including co-cultivation, virus replication studies, or manipulations involving concentrated virus) can be done in a BSL-2 (P2) facility, using BSL-3 practices and procedures. Virus production activities, including virus concentrations, require a BSL-3 (P3) facility and use of BSL-3 practices and procedures", see Recommended Biosafety Levels for Infectious Agents. |
| Symptoms: |
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| Status: |
confirmed |
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