Measles Outbreak Kills 32 in Northeastern Uganda

At least 32 people have died in a measles outbreak affecting several districts in northeastern Uganda, health authorities said on Tuesday.

The deaths have been recorded across four districts in the semi-arid Karamoja region since the outbreak began in November, according to a situation update from Uganda’s Ministry of Health. 

Napak district accounts for the highest number of fatalities with 17 child deaths, followed by Nakapiripirit with seven, while Abim and Moroto have each reported four deaths.

Health officials also confirmed 24 new measles infections in the past 24 hours across five districts, raising the cumulative number of reported cases to 505.

“Response activities at the regional level include deployment of the EOC (Emergency Operation Center) team within 72 hours to conduct comprehensive outbreak investigations in all the outbreak districts and supporting active surveillance,” the ministry said in the report.

The root causes of the outbreak identified by the ministry include low measles population immunity, delayed outbreak detection, failure to vaccinate, delay in seeking healthcare and inadequate active measles surveillance in the affected areas.

According to the ministry, the vaccination campaign against measles targeting the population aged six months to 15 years in the affected districts are underway.

In 2024, the ministry reported a measles outbreak in 56 districts across the East African country.

Measles is a highly contagious viral disease transmitted through coughing and sneezing, causing serious illness. Symptoms include high fever, cough, runny nose and red, watery eyes.

According to the World Health Organisation, symptoms typically appear about seven to 14 days after infection. 

Xinhua/NAN