Measles outbreak in three refugee camps

Measles has broken out in three refugee camps in south-central Pakistan along the Afghan border. "Till Wednesday we had seen some 58 cases. Of these, 17 were in Kili Faizo, a staging post near Chaman on the Pakistan-Afghan border, while 38 were in Roghani and another three cases were detected in the Landa Karez camp," Ribka Amsalu, a medical coordinator with Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) told IRIN on Friday in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. She added that no one had died of measles, but some patients who had developed complications were referred to the private hospital in Chaman for further treatment. MSF had erected isolation tents in the three camps, in which all the patients under treatment were being kept in order to prevent the disease from spreading. As a precautionary measure, MSF was vaccinating in the villages surrounding Roghani camp, as well as screening the three refugee camps for new cases, she said. Amsalu said measles was not a fatal disease. However, a spokeswomen for the group, Hillary Bower, told IRIN that measles in combination with malnutrition and diarrhoea, both of which prevail in the refugee camps, might render it much more serious. "The situation is under control and preventive measures will stop measles from spreading," she added. Bower added that MSF had vaccinated all the children from six to 15 years of age against measles before they were settled in the camps. "Probably some refugees had contracted it before they arrived," she said. MSF plans to continue vaccinating new arrivals. It will also start vaccinations in the Spin Buldak displacement camp across the border in southern Afghanistan.