An outbreak of measles which scourged some remote villages in far northwestern Myanmar’s Naga Self-Administrative Zone (SAZ) is now finally under control, according to the Naga SAZ authorities. According to Myitmakha News Agency report, the specialists from the Public Health Department (PHD) of Nay Pyi Taw and Sagaing Region hospitals are reportedly administering vaccinations and providing medical treatment for locals in areas where the disease broke out.
“The disease is now under control as specialists from the capital have come and given treatment. They’ve identified the previously mysterious disease as measles and it has since stopped spreading,” said U Kay Sai, chair of the Naga SAZ. The symptoms of measles reportedly start with a sore throat, increasing to a fever, then red spots that cover the whole body, before sufferers vomit blood. The disease can then prove fatal if not treated.
A medical team led by Dr Aung Kyaw Moe, assistant director of the PHD of Naypyitaw, reportedly worked together with four doctors from Sagaing Region in providing the aforementioned medical treatment within villages in the Naga SAZ which saw the outbreak of measles.
However, the medical team is yet to be reached for comment because of the remoteness of their current location.
As of 7 August, the measles virus which broke out in June this year has reportedly claimed the lives of a total 41 people: 27 from villages in Lahe Township and 14 from Nanyun Township.
Govt unveils Naga measles strategy
After the government gets control of the measles outbreak in the Naga Self-Administered Zone, Sagaing Region, medical teams will carry outvaccination and treatment programmes, according to the Public Health Department.
A health department spokesperson in Nay Pyi Taw said: “The Director-General of the Public Health Department has already visited. We have controlled the disease. We are carrying out medical treatment and preventative measures. In the Naga region, we are going to provide medical treatment, vaccinations and preventive measures against measles. We will hold press conferences on analysis of the outbreak.”