Measles alert sounded as the disease claims 14 lives

Kenya's health ministry has issued a measles outbreak alert following an upsurge of cases of the disease in various parts of the country, including the capital, Nairobi, and the death of 14 children since September 2005.

"The outbreak has now spread to all parts of the country, but is worst in Northeastern province and Nairobi province," said James Nyikal, the director of medical services, in the alert. He said the confirmed cases were of children who had never been vaccinated against measles. Three siblings died of suspected measles in a suburb of Nairobi this month.

Some 1,391 cases of measles had been identified in Kenya since September 2005, 60 percent of which were among children under age five, according to Nyikal. He said Kenya currently had measles vaccination coverage of about 65 percent and planned to raise it to 95 percent during this year's immunisation campaigns to prevent the disease from spreading easily from neighbouring countries with lower coverage.

In May, the health ministry will undertake a nationwide measles vaccination campaign targeting children under age five. Nyikal stressed that all government health facilities offered routine measles vaccination every working day and urged parents to immunise their babies and children against the disease.

According to the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO), measles is a major killer of young children, despite the availability of a safe and effective vaccine for the past 40 years. An estimated 454,000 people, the majority of them children, died from measles in 2004.

Highly contagious, measles is an acute viral respiratory illness. The first sign of infection is usually high fever, which begins approximately 10 to 12 days after exposure and lasts one to seven days. During this initial stage, the patient may have a runny nose, cough, red and watery eyes and small white spots inside the cheeks. After several days, a rash develops, usually on the face and upper neck. Over a period of about three days, the rash proceeds downward, eventually reaching the hands and feet. The rash lasts for five to six days, then fades. The rash occurs, on average, 14 days after exposure to the virus, with a range of seven to 18 days.