Kiev: first death by measles as cases soar



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A 57-year-old woman died at the hospital of complications related to this highly contagious disease, told AFP Maryna Dadinova, spokeswoman for the Ministry of Health.

Eight people, including two children, died of measles in Ukraine this year. There have been 16 deaths nationwide in 2018.

About 20,000 people in Ukraine have contracted this highly contagious viral disease since the beginning of the year.

Measles is characterized by a high fever and a red rash. It usually causes only mild symptoms but remains one of the leading causes of death among young children worldwide.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a 95% vaccination rate to prevent mbad hospitalizations and deaths.

But in Ukraine, only 42% of one – year – old children had been vaccinated by the end of 2016, according to the UN agency for children, UNICEF.

The latest measles outbreak, which began in 2017, has sparked calls for mbad vaccination and schools to refuse unvaccinated children.

Although the immunization follow-up rate has more than doubled in 2017 to more than 93%, the Ukrainian authorities and international organizations attribute this outbreak to long-term interruption of immunization.

In May 2018, a head of the National Academy of Medicine, Fedir Lapiy, said that "parents' reluctance to vaccinate their children comes from mistrust of vaccines, mistrust of the children. In respect of doctors ".

Measles cases have more than tripled in Europe in 2018, and Ukraine has been behind most of the outbreak.

The WHO reported that the European region had recorded nearly 83,000 measles cases last year. The Ukrainian government reported 54,000 cases in 2018.

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