Measles breaks out in Charsadda

CHARSADDA: At least 23 children were admitted to the District Headquarters Hospital in Charsadda due to measles outbreak in remote areas of the district on Saturday.

Two special wards have been established in the hospital, sources said. Around 23 children were admitted while 67 more were discharged from the hospital after getting treated.

Talking to reporters, Dr Ijaz Khan from the health facility said that children in the remote areas had been vaccinated and symptoms of measles in five percent children were not dangerous. People should shift their children to the health facilities where they would be provided free of cost medical treatment, he added.

“Parents must avoid self-medication of the disease and shift their children to the nearest hospital,” he said, adding that teams of Health Department and World Health Organisation (WHO) were conducting surveys of the affected areas on emergency basis.  He said the WHO team had visited the DHQ Hospital and had taken blood samples of the children. Around 90 kids had been shifted to the hospital wherefrom 67 had been discharged after giving them medical treatment, he maintained.