measles

A three-year-old girl from Gulf Province and a 23-year-old male from New Ireland were diagnosed with measles and were confirmed positive on the 22^nd of December, 2019.

In a press conference today, Secretary for Health, Pascoe Kase, confirmed the detection of two measles cases in Gulf and New Ireland Province since their last update in December 2019.

Dr Mathias Bauri, team leader to PNG’s 14 member Emergency Medical Team responding to Samoa’s SOS to the measles crisis, is putting his weight behind the compulsory vaccination drive.

As one of PNG’s best epidemiologists, Dr. Bauri from 2009 has responded to in-country outbreak of infectious diseases threatening PNG, which also included the 2014 Ebola scare, the 2013-2014 measles outbreak and last year’s polio crisis.

According to provincial disease control officer Maria Sabok, the result came from tests done at the Central Public Health laboratory in Port Moresby recently.

Sabok said health workers carried out a mass vaccination on 335 inmates including 154 officers and their families, and reported this case.

The inmate has been vaccinated.

She told TV Wan news that they have enough vaccines to continue the program.

The National Department of Health also reported measles being detected in the Gulf Province.

Secretary for Health, Pascoe Kase, made this announcement during a media conference held on Friday 13^th December at the National Health Office in Port Moresby.

Secretary Kase, in collaboration with the World Health Organisation’s and UNICEF PNG’s representatives, made statements on the status of measles in PNG and the Pacific Region and urged the public to be alert and not let their guards down.

Kase alerted the public on the importance of immunisation for children due to the recent outbreak of measles in the region, including Samoa, Fiji, Tonga and Australia.

Parents are strongly advised to ensure their children have received at least two doses of measles vaccine.

With several countries around the Pacific experiencing measles outbreaks and with increased travel within the region, travellers are at high risk of measles infection. PNG is on heightened alert for the importation of the measles virus into the country and possible measles outbreak, which can follow the importation of the virus.

People travelling internationally should get immunised before departure if they have not yet received two doses of measles vaccine.

As the Pacific grapples with a deadly measles outbreak originating in New Zealand, some of the region's smallest states are seeing their health systems put under increasing strain before the disease even reaches their shores.

Already, measles has spread to Fiji, Tonga and Samoa.

Health authorities in Samoa say they have registered seven deaths suspected to have been caused by the measles virus.

Now, there are fears its spread to other countries in the region could be only a matter of time.

This was supported by UNICEF and the World Health Organization.

The campaign aims to vaccinate more than 1.3 million children in the age group of 6 months to 5 years with measles and rubella (MR) vaccines, and then children from birth to 5 years with oral polio vaccine (OPV).

This exercise further demonstrates Papua New Guinea’s commitment to improve health and well-being of its children by protecting them against vaccine-preventable diseases.

The World Health Organization data shows a rise in cases in almost every region of the world, with 30% more cases in 2017 than 2016.

Experts say complacency, collapsing health systems and a rise in fake news about the vaccine are behind the rise.

They say the measles vaccines can save millions of lives.

Measles is a highly contagious disease that in severe cases can lead to complications such as blindness, pneumonia and infection and swelling of the brain.

Ropa says an outbreak can occur anywhere in the country.

“And it can be huge and devastating. We can have deaths and problems with our health system to cope with it,” he said.

His advice is for parents to take responsibility and bring their children to the nearest clinic for vaccination or inspection at the earliest show of measles.

“Vaccines are free and available,” he said.

He said the symptoms include fever and rash, and sometimes running nose and cough.  

Researchers figured this out by looking at records of people who had a neurological disease called subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, or SSPE, in California between 1998 and 2016. The research was presented at IDWeek, an infectious-disease conference, in October.

SSPE is a neurological complication from measles in which, essentially, the body has an abnormal immune response to the virus.