In a ReliefWeb update (computer translated) Friday on the measles outbreak in Guinea in West Africa the report notes that the measles outbreak that was declared one month ago has grown to affect 2,100 children since January.
“We are admitting new children every day,” said Doctor Karim Assani, a pediatrician at the N’Zérékoré Regional Hospital working with the medical-humanitarian NGO, ALIMA. “Many of them are severe cases, suffering from complications.”
Since the declaration of the outbreak, ALIMA has treated 53 complicated measles cases. Complicated measles cases can have a mortality rate of up to 15 percent without proper care.
The outbreak has affected 17 of the 33 prefectures in the country with the southeastern prefecture of N’Zérékoré reporting the most cases at 675 this year to date.
ALIMA reports supporting the N’Zérékoré Regional Hospital to take charge of severe cases, free of charge. The children are treated in one of two isolation tents that ALIMA set up on hospital grounds.
ALIMA is also supplying health clinics in the area with treatment kits for the management of simple cases, and supporting health centers in the district to monitor the evolution of the outbreak, as well as the referral of complicated cases to the hospital. So far, 643 children with simple measles have been supported by ALIMA in health clinics within the prefecture.
On March 12, ALIMA will work launch a mass vaccination campaign, alongside national health authorities, in N’Zérékoré to protect some 140,000 children between the ages of six months and 10 years against measles.
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