New Case of Measles Confirmed in Kratie Province

Months after the country was declared measles free, a case of the highly contagious disease has been confirmed in Kratie province, according to a statement released Thursday by the Ministry of Health, World Health Organization (WHO) and Unicef.

“One case of measles was confirmed in Kratie Province on 4 October according to laboratory tests conducted at the Nation­al Institute of Public Health…of a suspected case which was reported on 15 September,” the statement said.

In March, the WHO’s Regional Verification Commission for Measles declared that Cambodia had eliminated measles, having found no new cases since November 2011.

Thursday’s statement said another possible case had been reported in Kompong Thom province, but that further laboratory testing was required for confirmation.

It added that the ministry had sent teams to the two provinces for “further detailed in­ves­ti­gations” and would launch an emergency immunization campaign in affected areas beginning on October 20.

Shafiqul Hossain, a WHO immunization program technical officer, said Thursday that a 13-year-old boy had been infected in Kratie. “

We are thinking this is maybe an imported case from another country—we are not sure,” Dr. Hossain said, adding that it would likely take another week to know the source of the disease.

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