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March 27, 2002

INTERNATIONAL IMMUNIZATION NEWS

"Striking Venezuelan Doctors Blame Gov't for Measles Epidemic" EFE News Service (www.efenews.com) (03/26/02)

In Venezuela, the government is being blamed by the Venezuelan Medical Federation (FMV) for a recent outbreak of measles that has resulted in at least 800 cases of the disease.  According to FMV president Douglas Natera, the increase in measles cases is not a result of the ongoing medical strike--in which 23,000 doctors walked off the job more than a week ago, bringing the country's public health centers to a virtual standstill--and he said that considering the mortality associated with the disease, Venezuela should have declared a "health emergency and cordoned off the country."  Several northwestern provinces that have been hit particularly hard by the measles epidemic have declared regional conditions of emergency and are undertaking vaccination initiatives.  The Pan American Health Organization's Oswaldo Barrezueta notes that 98 percent of the measles cases recorded in the Americas this year were in Venezuela.

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