LAHORE: Punjab is at a potential risk of the measles outbreak as it has reported alarmingly high number of cases of the disease in recent weeks.

The situation is said to be disturbing in Lahore, Rawalpindi and Gujranwala where the number of measles cases are reported more than other districts of Punjab.

The official figures pertaining to the measles cases show that a sharp increase has been witnessed during the last four weeks or so, raising eyebrows of the health experts dealing with the prevention of the diseases.

Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) Punjab Director Munir Ahmad said the health teams had responded to emergencies in 73 union councils of the province which had recently reported measles outbreaks.

“We are facing an extraordinary situation in the current peak season of the measles in Punjab as a good number of cases are being reported these days,” he said.

Disease claimed 31 lives in four months; situation alarming in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala

The EPI Punjab surveillance bulletin continued reporting a sharp increase in the cases surfacing in most parts of the province.

According to the official statistics available with Dawn, the measles has claimed lives of 31 children in the province during last four months or so.

This death toll is said to be alarmingly high in recent years since the Punjab province started reporting the measles cases.

Most cases were reported from Lahore where total 1,412 suspected measles cases were reported during last four months or so, followed by 786 in Rawalpindi and 307 in Gujranwala.

The Union Council 135 of Lahore alone has three confirmed measles outbreaks in recent times.

According to the EPI performance indicators, total 5,178 suspected and 258 confirmed measles cases have been reported in Punjab since January 2018. During the last one week, 735 measles suspected cases were reported.

Of the total 31 child deaths caused by the measles, three were reported in Lahore, two in Okara, one each in Sahiwal, Jaranwala, Chakwal, Chiniot, Kasur etc.

The EPI performance indicators further shared statistics about the 12 high-risk districts, stating Attock reported 140 suspected measles cases, Faisalabad 260, Kasur 139, Okara 180, Rahim Yar Khan 115, Rajanpur 128, Sahiwal 136, Sheikhupura 210, Sialkot 115 and Toba Take Singh reported 126 suspected measles cases.

Of the total 38 outbreaks of the disease, Lahore reported 27, five each in Rawalpindi and Rajanpur and one each in Attock and Sheikhupura.

Of the total 258 confirmed cases in high-reporting districts, Lahore reported 158, Rawalpindi 31, Sheikhupura 20, Rajanpur 15 while Attock reported six confirmed cases, say the EPI-Punjab performance indicators.

To a question about the definition of outbreak of the measles, Dr Munir said if five or more cases were reported in any union council, it is considered an outbreak.

“However, we can’t declare the measles outbreak in Punjab on the basis of the present reported number of suspected and confirmed cases across the province so far,” he said.

The EPI director said Punjab had 3,550 union councils and the outbreak-like situation was reported in 73 of them. He also confirmed that the number of deaths reported during the first five months this year was double compared to that of the last year.

Declaring the situation disturbing, Mr Munir said the health teams had been alerted to curtail the number of cases by reaching out to the maximum number of children to vaccinate them against the measles.

The medical experts say the measles is a childhood infection caused by a virus. They say the signs and symptoms appear around 10 to 14 days after exposure of the body to the virus. The signs included fever, dry cough, runny nose, sore throat, inflammation of eyes and tiny white spots on the body.

Published in Dawn, May 29th, 2018