PARIS - An outbreak of measles has killed 115 people in Chad, out of more than 6,000 registered cases in the central African country, the Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF - Doctors without Borders) said Friday.
The French wing of the international charity said in a statement that the outbreak was mainly in Chad`s capital Ndjamena and at least three provinces in the south and east of the sub-Saharan nation.
MSF has "begun treating patients in five health centres in the capital and two hospital complexes where the most severe cases are being taken in," the statement added.
The non-governmental organisation has sent 11 voluntary foreign medical staff to help with the outbreak in Ndjamena, noting that "in the capital, as many cases were registered between January and April 2005, as in the whole of 2004."
Chadian health authorities have announced that treatment is henceforth free of charge and "made drugs available to the health centres," the statement added.
Measles is a highly contagious disease which continues to kill up to 731,000 children, who are particularly susceptible to it, every year, according to UN World Health Organisation figures for 2003. Almost half of these deaths are in sub-Saharan Africa.
On April 21, MSF launched a joint vaccination campaign with Chadian officials to reach almost 40,000 under-fives, the statement said.
The airborne viral disease, characterised by high fever, rashes and vomiting, is the worst killer among illnesses that can be prevented by vaccination, the WHO has stated.
While one dose of vaccine can protect those at risk, if caught there is no specific treatment for measles, which is usually battled with antibiotics to deal with infection.
04/29/2005 15:34 GMT