In early September 2018, cases of
measles
Measles is a highly contagious infectious disease caused by measles virus. Symptoms usually develop 10–12 days after exposure to an infected person and last 7–10 days. Initial symptoms typically include fever, often greater than , cough, ...
began to appear in
Antananarivo
Antananarivo ( French: ''Tananarive'', ), also known by its colonial shorthand form Tana, is the capital and largest city of Madagascar. The administrative area of the city, known as Antananarivo-Renivohitra ("Antananarivo-Mother Hill" or "A ...
,
Madagascar
Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Afric ...
. Capitol health authorities challenged by the district's poverty and Madagascar's relatively-low vaccination rate
were unable to contain the highly-contagious disease, and what followed became the largest measles outbreak yet in Madagascar's history.
With more than 115,000 people infected and more than 1,200 dying, the outbreak has become Madagascar's most serious outbreak of measles in the 21st century.
Outbreak
Measles cases were first detected in the urban, downtown district of Antananarivo-Renivohetra on 3 September 2018. At the time, health authorities were still heavily engaged in the remnants of last year's plague epidemic, and public resources were identified to tracking down remaining cases. On 4 October, the
Institute Pasteur de Madagascar confirmed the presence of
measles morbillivirus
''Measles morbillivirus'' (MeV), also called measles virus (MV), is a single-stranded, negative-sense, enveloped, non-segmented RNA virus of the genus '' Morbillivirus'' within the family '' Paramyxoviridae''. It is the cause of measles. Human ...
in samples from 3 patients
and identified the B3 strain.
The virus had already spread outwards to the capital's Tanà South, Tanà North, Ambohidramito districts, and by 18 November there were over 3,200 recorded cases in Madagascar.
[
]
Response
Measles immunity rates are below average in Madagascar at 83%, versus the 95% recommended by the World Health Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level o ...
. Availability of the MMR vaccine
The MMR vaccine is a vaccine against measles, mumps, and rubella (German measles), abbreviated as ''MMR''. The first dose is generally given to children around 9 months to 15 months of age, with a second dose at 15 months to 6 years of age, ...
is patchy in Madagascar due to the island's mountainous geography, presenting a challenge to distributors.
References
See also
* 2019 Philippines measles outbreak
The 2019 Philippines measles outbreak began in early 2019. An outbreak of measles was officially declared in February 2019 in select administrative regions in Luzon and Visayas including Metro Manila by the Philippine government. The outbreak is at ...
* 2019 Samoa measles outbreak
The 2019 Samoa measles outbreak began in September 2019. As of 6 January 2020, there were over 5,700 cases of measles and 83 deaths, out of a Samoan population of 200,874. Over three percent of the population were infected. The cause of the o ...
* 2019 New Zealand measles outbreak
Nineteen or 19 may refer to:
* 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20
* one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019
Films
* ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film
* ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film
Music ...
* Measles resurgence in the United States
Measles was declared eliminated from the United States in 2000 by the World Health Organization due to the success of vaccination efforts. However, it continues to be reintroduced by international travelers, and in recent years, anti-vaccinatio ...
{{Vaccine safety
21st-century epidemics
Measles outbreaks
Health in Madagascar
2018 in Madagascar