Samoa’s Measles Epidemic Part of Global Surge: PRI

Samoa is an independent nation in the Pacific and nearby American Samoa is a US territory. Many on these islands, like others throughout the world, once dismissed measles as a harmless childhood disease, and now both contend with the disease. An outbreak began in September, disrupting Samoan businesses and schools on the island of 200,000 people. The disease is highly contagious and symptoms do not show for about three weeks. More than 4000 Samoans contracted measles with at least 70 deaths reported. “Cases worldwide are now surging at a record rate, according to a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” reports Elana Gordon for PRI. More than 140,000 people, most children under the age of five, died from the disease in 2018. The global vaccination rate is 86 percent, below the recommended 95 percent,, and international travel exacerbates the disease's spread. Other reports suggest Samoa’s vaccination rate was below 35 percent. The Samoan government ordered a massive vaccination drive and arrested a leading critic of vaccinations. The lead measles specialist of the World Health Organization describes the surge as a “collective failure.” - YaleGlobal

Samoa’s Measles Epidemic Part of Global Surge: PRI

Measles epidemic in Samoa and American Samoa is part of a unprecedented resurgence of cases and lax attitudes on vaccinations around the globe
Elana Gordon
Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Read the article from PRI about the measles outbreak in Samoa.

Elana Gordon is a member of WHYY’s Health & Science desk in Philadelphia and producer on the station’s new health and science show, The Pulse. She is a fellow with the NPR and Kaiser Health News Reporting Project on Health Care in the States.

Read the report on measles from the World Health Organization.

 Africa	53%	74%		5%	26%;  Americas	93%	90%		65%	82%;  East Mediterranean	71%	82%		28%	74%;  Europe	91%	95%		48%	91% ; Southeast Asia 	63%	89%		3%	80% ; Western Pacific	85%	95%		2%	91%

(Source: WHO)

	Measles per 1 Million, 2018 Africa	118 Americas	24 East Mediterranean	93 Europe	98 Southeast Asia 	18 Western Pacific	15

(Source: WHO)

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