By Ogar Monday
Cross River State health authorities have confirmed the detection of 35 measles cases at the Ogoja Refugee Camp in Adagom.
It further assured that the State has set in motion plans to vaccinate at least 700,000 children against the virus across the State.
Dr. Janet Ekpenyong, Director-General of the State Primary Healthcare Development Agency revealed this in Calabar, the State capital on Monday, and disclosed that the vaccination exercise would be comprehensive as polio vaccines and other routine vaccines will be administered as well.
The DG held that the State has put in place strategies to ensure that the exercise, which will hold from the 20th to the 27th of October, is comprehensive.
According to the WHO, measles is a highly contagious virus, with the first sign usually a high fever. Other symptoms can also include a runny nose, watery eyes, and cough in the first few days. Victims can also develop a rash on their skin.
Although the virus claimed more than 140,000 lives in 2018, vaccination is said to have resulted in a 73% drop in global measles deaths between 2000 and 2018.
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