“One day were had more than 170 patients ... over 90 per cent were children.” Australian pediatric nurse Dominic Sertori was deployed for two weeks to Samoa amid a devastating measles epidemic that has so far killed 62 people | Kaubo
The sheer volume of patients presenting to Samoa’s dedicated measles emergency department was like nothing veteran paediatric nurse Dominic Sertori had ever experienced.
The vast majority of deaths are children, including 26 under one-year-olds and 28 one to four-year-olds and the mortality rate is expected to rise due to low vaccination rates, particularly among Samoa's youth.The tiny Pacific island nation declared a state of emergency and a complete government shutdown to redeploy public workers to combat a wave of outbreaks.
Many were critically ill and had developed serious complications such as pneumonia and encephalitis. Others had high fevers, rashes and severe coughs.Families living in remote villages had taken their children to traditional healers whose remedies were powerless to treat measles, but delayed parents seeking medical help.
The severity has been blamed on plummeting vaccination rates on the island, sparked by the death of two children after they received a measles jab that had been incorrectly administered.Immunisation is compulsory under the state of emergency and authorities have asked unvaccinated families to stake a red flag outside their homes to help a mass immunisation drive.
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