Health authorities in Northern Region battle outbreak of Measles

Health officials in the Northern Region are battling to control the outbreak of Measles in the region.

GhanaWeb sources at the Northern Regional Health Directorate say suspected cases of measles have been recorded in all the 16 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in the region, with the Tamale Metropolis and Sagnarigu Municipality topping the lists.

“We have recorded suspected cases across all the 16 districts of tee region, it’s really spreading faster and we’re getting overwhelmed with the situation because there are no vaccines in stock as you already know “ the source said.

There has been a measles vaccine shortage in the Northern Region since last year and with cases increasing, health authorities are tight-lipped on the outbreak.

Health officials overwhelmed

Despite the unwillingness of health authorities to speak, nurses and other health professionals at the various facilities that have recorded multiple suspected cases say the rate at which the disease is spreading is worrying and they fear that the situation could get worse if urgent steps are not taken to halt the spread.

Even though the virus was previously known to catch mostly children, our sources at Kalpohin Clinic in the Sagnarigu Municipality said the adults are now catching the virus.

They said the facility alone started recording suspected cases since November last year and have continued to record multiple cases.

The situation is not different at the Tamale Central and Tamale Teaching Hospitals, the main referral centers in the region. Public Health Officials at the two facilities say suspected cases have become “common” there.

As the weather gets hotter in the region by the day, they fear the fatalities will likely be recorded if things are not brought under control in earnest.

One Senior Health Worker at the Tamale Teaching Hospital said this is the first time he is having to deal with measles in his over 15years practice.

“For some of us, this is our first time of coming into contact with measles, we read about it, we heard what it did to our people in the 1980s but we’ve never handled cases ourselves. I’ve practiced for 15 plus years, so you should understand it’s been a long time” he said.

“The difficulty is that, when we suspect a case, we take samples and take it to Accra for testing but mostly, before the tests are out, most patients would’ve recovered already. So, between the time of sample taking and confirmation of results, we basically just treat it as measles, so you have a situation where you’re not even sure what you are treating, so, before a patient starts showing all symptoms to warrant a transfer to the isolation center, they may have infected others with it”. he said.

Adults and children contracting the virus

Sulemana Mumuni, a resident of Tamale told GhanaWeb his eight month old son contracted the virus in November but had little care at the hospital.

He said “Initially, we thought it was just normal flu, because we least expected it to be measles because for more than 30years, we’ve not heard of it. Within day, he started having severe fever and we started seeing the rashes, we took him to the hospital and after several checks by different doctors, they told us it was measles but they had to take his samples to Accra. They only gave us antibiotics and kalamin lotion.

We had to manage it ourselves at home because they told us there was nothing they could do, we were just lucky he recovered. As at February, our test result was still not in, my boy has long recovered yet we don’t know if it was confirmed that it was really measles”.

Salim Mohammed, a resident of Taha in the Sagnarigu Municipality also told GhanaWeb he was admitted at the Tamale Teaching Hospital's Contagious Disease Center for two days before his wards also started showing symptoms of the disease.

“The place was full of measles cases, I actually moved from three hospitals because they all told me there was no space. I first went to Kalpohin, then to Central and [Tamale] West Hospital before going to TTH. Even at TTH, I was taken to the Ebola Center [Contagious Disease Center] after they realized it was measles, there, we were more than 10 measles patients.

After three days, I came home and my two kids were also down with it. I didn’t take them to the hospital because when I was there, apartp from infusions, they really didn’t give me any medication, so I managed them at home” Mr Salim said.

Fear of spread in schools

Parents are now worried that the school environment could become a place for the spread of measles in the region.

“My little girl just reported to school at Ghanasco and I’m worried about her. This outbreak can spread into the schools and that is dangerous” Eric, a resident said.

He appealed to government to intervene.

“With the outbreak of the measles, if government does not come out to support or vaccinate the students, it will spread more than this. So government has to come in otherwise, we’re likely to start losing our children” Mr Eric noted.