Philippine health officials declare Measles outbreak in Metro Manila

A nationwide outbreak of measles is blamed for more than 70 deaths in the Philippines. The nation’s Department of Health declared an outbreak of the disease after cases in Metro Manila spiked from January 1-19, 2019. The capital and nearby suburbs experienced a nearly ten-fold increase in the number of cases over the same period last year. Nationwide, there have been more than 4,300 confirmed cases. The government is urging citizens to get vaccinated, but the number of people getting the shots remains low, in part due to the nation’s ill-fated campaign to fight dengue fever. In November 2017, the government suspended use of an anti-dengue vaccine against its manufacturer announced that the shots could worsen the illness in some patients not previously exposed to the virus.