There was a measles breakout in the Philippines. More people have died from measles in the Philippines so far this year than in all of 2018, and it has only been less than 3 months. About 2.6 million children remain at risk in the country. The rapid spread of this disease has killed 261 people this year. One of the most heartbreaking parts is that most of the victims that died were children under the age of 5. It is crazy because in 2018, there was a 202 total deaths. This year has already beat that total by 59 deaths. Luckily, the Philippines' Department of Health is now reaching to immunize all unvaccinated children across seven of the most affected areas over the next year. The Philippines outbreak comes after global measles cases increased by 48.4% between 2017 and 2018.
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This event reminds me of another outbreak that took place very recently. A student in New York City was infected with measles and ended up getting 21 other people sick. This number clearly doesn’t come to close to what is happening in the Philippines, however for 1 person to get 21 sick in a very short period of time is about as dangerous as the few months and the 261 deaths. This deadly disease is taking too many lives, hopefully the vaccinations will prevent the spread of measles.
This is very scary and sad. I hope no one else has to go through this and that it gets under control soon.
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