CONGO – Measles killed nearly 5,000 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo this year, authorities said, after the disease spread to all the provinces in the country.
Close to a quarter of a million people were infected this year alone, the authorities added.
Measles in this country has killed over twice the number of those killed by Ebola in the last 15 months.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said this was the world’s largest and fastest-moving epidemic.
The Congolese government and the WHO launched an emergency vaccination program in September that aimed to inoculate over 800,000 children.
According to the WHO, measles is a highly contagious, serious disease caused by a virus and it is normally passed through direct contact and through the air. It is a human disease and is not known to occur in animals.(BBC)
