A raging measles outbreak in Afghanistan infected tens of thousands and killed more than 150 people last month alone, the World Health Organization said Friday, warning of more deaths.
The UN health agency said the outbreak was particularly concerning since Afghanistan is facing massive food insecurity and malnutrition, leaving children far more vulnerable to the highly contagious disease.
“Measles cases have been increasing in all prov-inces since the end of July 2021,” WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier told reporters in Geneva.
He said cases had surged recently, ballooning by 18 percent in the week of January 24 and by 40 percent in the last week of the month.
In all, 35,319 suspected measles cases were re-ported in January, including 3,000 that were labora-tory confirmed, and 156 deaths.
Ninety-one percent of the cases and 97 percent of the deaths were children under the age of five.
Lindmeier stressed that the measles-related deaths were likely underreported and the numbers were expected to swell.
“The rapid rise in cases in January suggests that the number of deaths due to measles is likely to increase sharply in the coming weeks,” Lindmeier said.
Measles is a highly-contagious disease caused by a virus that attacks mainly children. The most serious complications include blindness, brain swelling, diarrhoea, and severe respiratory infections.
The latest surge in cases comes as Afghanistan is in the grip of a humanitarian disaster, worsened by the Taliban takeover in August — when Western countries froze international aid and access to assets held abroad.—AFP
