Measles epidemic under control - health officials say

Health officials in the Republic of Congo said on Wednesday they now had the measles epidemic in the Department of Cuvette-Ouest under control. "Since 13 March, we have been striving to fight against the epidemic with all the financial resources and drugs which the department has placed at our disposal," Martin Ombeli, supervisor of the department's mass vaccination programme, told IRIN. The measles outbreak in the town of Etoumbi, 700 km north of the nation's capital, Brazzaville, was reported in early March. So far, Ombeli said, of the 87 cases registered there had been one death. Measures taken to check the spread of the disease included a public information effort undertaken by the Red Cross to get parents to present their children for vaccination or medical care. The director of the Health Ministry's programme to fight measles, Charlotte Ngokaba, said that the ministry and the population in all of the departments had taken measures to ensure sufficient supplies of drugs and vaccines for any eventuality. Since the beginning of 2004, several localities in the northern departments of Sangha and Likouala have been hit by the measles epidemic. "With the work we've done, I think I can say that the epidemic has been checked," Ombéli said.