Measles epidemic hits North Korea - Red Cross

[Pastor Dale Morgan]

*Plagues, Pestilences and Diseases

Measles epidemic hits North Korea - Red Cross*

20 Feb 2007 01:52:34 GMT
Source: Reuters

SEOUL, Feb 20 (Reuters) - A measles epidemic has hit North Korea,
causing at least four deaths and infecting some 3,000 people, the Red
Cross said.

Measles has been found in 30 North Korean counties since the outbreak
started in November 2006, the International Federation of Red Cross and
Red Crescent Societies said in a statement obtained on Tuesday.

"The continued presence of the measles is accompanied by a risk of
increasing cases and the further spread of the illness to other parts of
the country," it said.

North Korean health authorities notified the Red Cross, World Health
Organisation and other international bodies of the outbreak last week
and the impoverished state requested 5 million doses of measles vaccine,
it said.

Reclusive North Korea allows some U.N. agencies to operate within its
borders.

In November, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said North Korea could be
facing a scarlet fever pandemic.

"Measles remains a leading cause of death among young children, despite
the availability of a safe and effective vaccine for the past 40 years.
An estimated 345,000 people, the majority of them children, died from
measles in 2005," the World Health Organisation says on its Web site
(www.who.int), adding almost all the deaths occurred in poor countries.