Summary Five more children died of measles in different areas of Lahore on Sunday.
Lahore (Dunya News):-An ongoing measles epidemic in Pakistan has been claiming the lives of children in the country as five more children have passed away, raising the death toll to 133.
According to a doctor, at least 131 patients were brought to different hospitals within 24 hours. Out of them 46 hail from Lahore.
A doctor of the Lahore Children s Hospital said "I have been working now for more than two decades and I ve not seen a measles epidemic of this severity."
The latest figures from the World Health Organization (WHO) show the number of measles cases in Pakistan has increased from 4,000 in 2011 to 14,000 in 2012.
Health officials say lack of vaccines accounts for much of the epidemic’s intensity.
While measles itself is rarely fatal, it can lead to life-threatening complications such as meningitis and pneumonia, particularly in children with low immunity.
"Some of them are arriving very late at the hospital," the doctor said.
"After developing complications at home, their parents don t take them to doctors, they don t get any treatment and so when they come here…. there is not much we can do.
"Some are in the final stage of life or already dead with meningitis or pneumonia," he goes on.
