Measles fears

Around 1 million unvaccinated Venezuelan children are susceptible to measles, which has re-emerged in the crisis-stricken South American nation, a group of doctors says. A crippling shortage of medicines and vaccines, as well as decaying hospitals and an exodus of doctors, have thrown Venezuela’s health sector into a tailspin. Venezuelan health associations first raised the alarm about the return of measles in the southern mining state of Bolivar in August. Since then, the World Health Organisation has reported 34 confirmed cases. ‘‘Preliminary data indicates it is evolving rapidly,’’ two Venezuelan public health organisations said yesterday. ‘‘We estimate that at least 1,150,000 children under the age of 1 were not vaccinated ... over the last 10 years.’’