Vietnam to Conduct Study on Measles Outbreak Following 125 Deaths

The National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology will conduct a study on the 2013-2014 measles outbreak after 3,481 patients in 61 out of 63 cities and provinces in Vietnam were confirmed to have the disease, of which 125 reportedly died. The study will focus on the high rate of death, with all the deaths being babies, state media reported. The number of death due to complications from measles is 30 times as much as the number nine years ago and children below nine months old are most prone to getting sick and dying. Despite numerous infections and fatalities, which are expected to continue to rise, the Ministry of Health has yet to officially declare the disease an epidemic. The ministry today opened a training course on measles treatment for health workers; a move considered a slow response because the disease broke out last December mostly due to the low vaccination rate. This is the largest measles outbreak in Vietnam in years. Vaccination is the best way to protect against the disease, which is marked by high fever, coughing and red-colored rashes. In 2012, there were 122,000 measles deaths globally, mostly of children under the age of five. The Center for Vaccine Research and Production of Biologicals is seeking permission from the Ministry of Health to circulate its measles vaccine produced in cooperation with the Kitasato Institute of Japan. The vaccine is developed from the AIK-C strain and was successfully tested on human. (Tien Phong – Pioneer Apr 22, alobacsi.vn Apr 22)