Disease knows no borders

While the measles outbreak in Samoa has already claimed 62 lives, no-one has died from measles in New Zealand this year – but that has nothing to do with the disease itself.

By yesterday morning, 4217 measles cases had been reported in Samoa, including 165 in the previous 24 hours.

New Zealand Immunisation Advisory Centre director Dr Nikki Turner said there was no difference between measles in Samoa and New Zealand.

‘‘The disease is exactly the same but it is not unusual to see more people die of measles in lowincome countries than other countries.’’

Children in low-income countries were often malnourished and access to primary healthcare was more limited. Moreover, hospitals in Samoa were not nearly as well resourced as hospitals in New Zealand, she said.

Turner said no-one in New Zealand had died from measles this year, although two pregnant women lost their unborn babies after they became ill.

She noted a large number of Samoans lost confidence in vaccines when human error caused two infants to die after they received MMR immunisations in Samoa last year, putting the country’s vaccination programme on hold for months.

‘‘No vaccine is 100 per cent effective; a small percentage of people are not protected after vaccination and for others the protection may wane over time. But the measles vaccine is 90 to 95 per cent effective.’’

Turner said although there was a slim chance of people still getting measles after being vaccinated, it would likely be a mild case.

A total of 1310 people have been admitted to hospitals in Samoa to be treated for measles since the outbreak started, and 1076 have since been discharged.

A country-wide shutdown is under way, with medical and government volunteers scrambling to get people vaccinated.