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Published Date: 2010-10-23 16:21:44
Subject: PRO/EAFR> Measles - Africa (37): Swaziland
Archive Number: 20101024.214454

MEASLES - AFRICA (37): SWAZILAND
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Date: Wed 20 Oct 2010
Source: Times of Swaziland [edited]
http://www.times.co.sz/News/22052.html

Approved: davidorange
281 children test positive for measles
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The outbreak of measles in the country has resulted in about 281
childrentesting positive for the disease. This was revealed by Philile
Shabangu,programme manager for the Expanded Programme on
Immunisation yesterday [19 Oct 2010].

She said the outbreak had built up since the beginning of the year
[2010]to the current propositions and the government was doing all it
could tocombat the situation. In an interview at the Bethel Court,
Shabangu saidregional management teams from the Ministry of Health had
converged to fine tune the national measles campaign to be soon rolled
out. She said the public must be aware of fatal consequences of not
taking their childrento immunise against the disease.

"This is not a new issue but it has been in the increase as the year
progressed. First cases were detected in December [2009] in the Hhohho
region, but with time, it spread throughout the country.
Approximately 281 cases have been confirmed positive according to
laboratory tests. This is out of 681 suspected cases which were
clinically tested," said Shabangu.

The manager said the Lubombo region had the most cases followed by
Manzini, Shiselweni, and Hhohho. She said blood tests were the only way
to confirm if a child has measles or not.

Shabangu highlighted that presently, statistics show that 30 per cent of
children below the age of 5 have not been immunised. Non-immunisation
could lead to devastating results as opportunistic
diseases then complicate the infection.

"Immunisation is a preventative measure but some children are not
immunised due to a number of factors. Immunisation is the ultimate
control measure and is supposed to be done routinely at 9 months and
again at 18 months as a booster dose," she said. She said it was
possible to have a measles free country and the ministry was aiming
towards that with intensified education along with the immunisation
campaign.

[Shabangu revealed that failure to take an infant for immunisation
against measles could lead to the devastating consequence of the death
of a child.] She said a child who has not been immunized is
vulnerable to develop complications that could lead to death in a later
stage of their life when they contract the disease. The manager said
non-immunisation makes it easy for children to contract the disease in
case ofan outbreak.

"If the disease is not treated, the child could develop complications
that include blindness, pneumonia, and diarrhoea. And these can lead to
the death of a child," she said. Shabangu said all is not lost for
children who were not vaccinated because they can be given a responsive
treatment. She said children who have the disease must not be allowed to
be in contact with others because they could also contract it.

[Byline: Banele Dlamini]

--
Communicated by:
HealthMap Alerts via ProMED-EAFR

[In 2001, countries in the World Health Organization (WHO) African
Regionbegan an accelerated measles-control program to reduce by half by
2005 the number of deaths that were caused by measles in 1999
(http://www.who.int/vaccines-documents/docspdf01/www573.pdf). The
program was based on 4strategies: improving routine vaccinations;
providing a 2nd opportunity for measles vaccination through a routine,
2-dose vaccination schedule orthrough supplementary immunization
activities (SIAs); improving measles case management; and establishing
case-based surveillance with laboratoryconfirmation for all suspected
measles cases. Swaziland attained a coverage of more than 90 percent for
the catch-up SIAs, but only attained a coverage of 81 percent for the
follow-up SIAs by December 2004
(http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5537a3.htm). This
sub-optimal coverage for the routine and follow-up SIAs over the years
has contributed to the accumulation of an unimmunised cohort of up to 30
percent among children younger than 5 years of age. This consequently
compromises the hard immunity and hence the high risk of outbreaks as
indicated in this report. This therefore calls for the implementation of
a revised national measles control plan that addresses gaps in the
current plan.

A map showing the regions of Swaziland is available at
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/africa/swaziland.gif. The
HealthMap/ProMED-mail interactive map of Swaziland can be seen
athttp://healthmap.org/r/0d-Z. - Mod.JFW]

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