SHIKARPUR, Dec 20: Seven children have died of measles in Shikarpur district during the month of December, while 25 children are admitted in different hospitals, said the district health department on Thursday.

More than a week ago, a measles outbreak was reported from Larkana district where three deaths were confirmed by World Health Organisation officials who had visited the area.

Though cases were reported from all four talukas of Shikarpur district, the highest number of cases was reported from Khanpur taluka.

According to the district health department, around 649 suspected cases were reported from all over the district in December. The areas included Jagan, Golo Daro, Garhi Tegho, union council Rahimabad, Haji Mehar Ali Soondhro village, Jamal Din Dasti village, Lodra and Saddar Muhallah Shikarpur.

The district health officer of Shikarpur district, Dr Khursheed Qazi, told Dawn that blood samples were taken from 170 children and were sent to Islamabad for testing. Out of the samples, he said, 103 children tested positive for polio and are under medical treatment.

Meanwhile, 25 children remain admitted in different hospitals all over the district. They include seven-year-old Bakhtawar of Haji Mehar Ali Sondhro village, four-year-old Hidayatullah of Jamaldin Dasti village and 15-month-old Umar Farooque of Shikarpur, and are admitted in the Civil Hospital Shikarpur.

Dr Qazi said that the district health department had conducted several anti-measles drives since January 2012. Around 6,000 children in Shikarpur district were vaccinated against measles in December, he added.

Even after five months after monsoon, many villages in the Shikarpur district remain submerged by rainwater.

The president of a local NGO, Muhammad Paryal Murree, and programme coordinator of the Pakistan Institute of Labour, Education and Research (PILER), Shuja Qureshi, who visited Khanpur taluka, said that if the government did not take concrete measures to drain out the standing rainwater from these areas soon then there might be more outbreaks of diseases such as hepatitis B, gastrointestinal infections and malaria.

Meanwhile, the public health officer for Shikapur district, Dr Kishore Kumar, said that besides launching a vaccination campaign for controlling the spread of measles, the new vaccine for pnenueococcal phnemonia has been included in the routine vaccination programme.