The measles case tally in Malappuram reached 204 with 20 more new cases being reported on Wednesday.
District health authorities said that while all catch-up immunisation activities and mobilisation of people for vaccination as well as outbreak control activities were in full swing in the district, the outbreak was expected to last till the gaps in immunisation were bridged.
“All children infected are stable and their treatment is being monitored. Very few — four or five — have required hospitalisation and while the outbreak continues to generate more cases, our focus is on improving vaccination cover and ensuring that there are no deaths or complications. It is difficult to predict how long the outbreak will last because a highly infectious pathogen like the measles virus establishes local transmission; it will not stop till it exhausts the susceptible cohort. Hence the catch-up vaccination has to be a fast and thorough exercise,” a senior Health department official said.
Meanwhile, the district authorities are launching a measles vaccination campaign in Ma’din Higher Secondary School in Malappuram block on Thursday as an outbreak within the school seems to have resulted in a cluster of 18 cases so far, most of whom are unimmunised, he said.
Central team
A Central team has meanwhile completed its tour of the district and was expected to meet Health Secretary Tinku Biswal on Wednesday to brief her and present their situation assessment report.
The team had visited many houses with measles-afflicted children, immunisation camps as well as areas in the district where vaccine hesitancy and resistance as well a good number of cases had been reported. They interacted with the local people and local body representatives.
“We have been told to focus on completing the immunisation activities. They also expressed satisfaction about the pace at which both immunisation, case search and control measures were being adopted and appreciated that the district had all systems in place,” the official said.
He added that all activities were being coordinated and monitored on a daily basis by the District Collector, District Development Commissioner and the District Medical Officer and that local body representatives were also involved in mobilising the community to vaccinate themselves.
“None are rushing to get vaccinated themselves, but since the outbreak is on, some are coming forward saying that they are willing to take just the measles vaccine. Our surveillance system is on the vigil. All families are being advised to immediately isolate every single case of fever with or without rash,” he added.
