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عربي

IRAQ: Three die of measles in Diwaniyah Province
 25/03/2009

BAGHDAD, 25 March 2009 (IRIN) - Measles has claimed the lives of three babies in Diwaniyah Province, some 130km south of Baghdad, a health official has said.

"About 800 confirmed cases have been registered so far in the province since the outbreak early this year," Abdul-Amir al-Obaidi, head of the provincial health directorate, told IRIN on 24 March.

The local health authorities were expecting a resurgence of the disease, he said. They blamed this situation on a shortage of vaccines between 2003 and 2005 and the security situation which had prevented families from reaching health centres, or vaccinators from visiting them.

However, efforts were being made: “Since August 2008 we have been sending vaccination teams to all areas and our work is still going on especially in kindergartens and elementary schools," he said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported 8,411 suspected measles cases nationwide in the first nine weeks of 2009, with 85 percent of cases in central Iraq and forecasts of cases gradually moving to the south. By contrast, in the whole of 2008 WHO reported 8,134 measles cases in Iraq.

Collapse of health services
On 24 February, the Iraqi Health Ministry said hundreds of measles cases had been confirmed, especially in provinces where health services had collapsed due to violence. It said the provinces of Salaheddin and Kirkuk in the north, Anbar, Diyala, Baghdad and Babil in the centre, and Nassiriyah in the south were the worst affected.

According to WHO, measles - a highly contagious disease caused by a virus - remains a leading cause of death among young children globally, despite the existence of a safe and effective vaccine.

Spread through respiration or contact with fluids from the nose or mouth, its symptoms include fever, coughing, runny nose, red eyes and rashes. Measles can lead to blindness, encephalitis (a brain infection) and pneumonia.