The following is from a World Health Organization Regional Office for the Western Pacific news release in July 2014: Mongolia is officially measles free. The Government received a measles-elimination certificate from the WHO-WPRO.
”It demonstrates that measles elimination is not only theoretically feasible, but also achievable in middle- and low-income countries and areas of the Western Pacific”, said Dr Shin Young-soo, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific.
From Jan. 2014 through Aug. 2014, Mongolia reported a total of 105 suspected measles cases (all 105 cases were classified as discarded).
This year has seen a dramatic turn around in Mongolia concerning measles. For the first eight months of 2015, the country has seen more than 20,000 suspected and confirmed measles cases.
What a difference a year makes.
In fact, the first measles case in Alaska in 15 years was reported in a man who flew from Mongolia to Fairbanks earlier this year.
Mongolia’s outbreak began in March this year and by June the government started taking measures like vaccination campaigns and other preventive measures.
Robert Herriman is a microbiologist and the Editor-in-Chief of Outbreak News Today and the Executive Editor of The Global Dispatch
Follow @bactiman63
One thought on “Mongolia measles: What a difference a year makes”