KUALA LUMPUR: The number of measles cases in the country has risen by three-fold in the past three years, including two deaths reported this year.
Health Ministry director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said as of September this year, a total of 602 measles cases (26.3 per million resident) has been reported, compared to 235 cases (7.8 per million resident) and 195 cases (6.6 per million resident) in 2014 and 2013, respectively.
Noor Hisham said the number of outbreaks have also increased to 37 episodes from only 11 last year.
"Outbreaks have also been reported in schools, nurseries and detention centres,” he said in a press statement yesterday.
Noor Hisham said between 50 and 60 per cent of the cases reported in the past two years involved children who had not been vaccinated against measles.
“Among the reasons parents fail or forget to immunise their children are misunderstandings about the disease, rejecting vaccination, and practicing homeopathy or naturopathy," he said.
Noor Hisham urged parents to be more aware of the disease, and to vaccinate their child in order to avoid further outbreaks.
District health departments will be carrying out vaccination programmes for children under the age of six at areas where measles have been reported, he said.
He said measles was a highly infectious viral illness and that infected children should be quarantined.