KAMPALA, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- The cumulative number of measles deaths in four districts in Uganda's semi-arid northeastern region has risen to 32 since the outbreak was declared a month ago, the health ministry said Tuesday.
In a situation update, the ministry reported a cumulative total of 17 child deaths due to the disease in Napak, seven in Nakapiripirit, four in Abim and four in Moroto.
In the past 24 hours, 24 new measles cases were reported in five districts in the region, bringing the cumulative number of reported cases to 505.
"Response activities at 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.
The vaccination campaign against measles targeting the population aged six months to 15 years in the affected districts are underway, according to the ministry.
Last year, 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 Organization, symptoms typically appear about seven to 14 days after infection. ■