By Hou Akot Hou
Health authorities in Northern Bahr El Ghazal state say they have confirmed 14 cases of measles in Nyamlel of Aweil West County and Malualkon Hospital of Aweil East County.
Thomas Dugan, the disease surveillance officer in the state ministry of health in Aweil town, told journalists that cases were confirmed in children in the two counties of Aweil West and East alone.
He said the measles outbreak in the state was reported to the Ministry of health, and it seems interminable as the cases rise.
Dugan revealed that the children found to have caught the endemic disease are in serious condition in the two health facilities in Malualkon and Nyamlel.
The state health authorities are appealing to the health partners to intervene.
“We are lobbying for the partners to support us so that the mass vaccination is made. It is something we are looking for from the international organizations that are partnering with us in the health sector so that they carry out the immunization on measles,” Degun stated.
He said the samples were taken to Juba for the first child, and the results were positive.
Measles is an acute, highly contagious disease, often in childhood, caused by the measles virus of the genus Morbillivirus, featuring a spreading red skin rash, fever, running nose, cough, and red eyes.