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Written By: Admin | Published : June 9, 2013 11:26 AM IST
Two more people died of measles in Pakistan's Punjab province, raising the number of deaths in the region to 146, officials said. Eight-year-old Talha died at the Children Hospital in Lahore while 24-year-old Zainab died at the Allied Hospital in Faisalabad, health department officials told the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP).
As many as 201 new cases of measles have been reported from Punjab, including 40 from Lahore hospitals. The number of measles cases now stands at over 16,600 in the last six months. Tanveer Ahmed, director general of health services in Punjab, said it has been found that a majority of deaths in Lahore were caused by severe pneumonia and delay in reaching hospitals.
What is measles?
Measles, also known as rubeola, is a disease caused by a virus, specifically a paramyxovirus of the genus Morbillivirus.
Reports of measles go back to at least 600 BCE, however, the first scientific description of the disease and its distinction from smallpox is attributed to the Persian physician Ibn Razi (Rhazes) 860-932 who published a book entitled 'Smallpox and Measles' (in Arabic: Kitab fi al-jadari wa-al-hasbah). In 1954, the virus causing the disease was isolated, and licensed vaccines to prevent the disease became available in 1963.
With inputs from IANS
