On Friday, public health officials of American Samoa have declared that the southernmost territory of the US has a measles outbreak, leading to the closure of all public schools starting from today and a ban on gathering in public places.
The American Samoa government said the territory had nine measles cases of the disease, of which five had been traveling outside Samoa.
Epidemiologist Dr. Aifili John Tufa said, “As for the other four people who tested positive for measles, we’re suspecting that is local transmission, meaning that it’s most likely that some of these travelers did transmit the measles virus to them, causing them to be sick.”
Dr. Tufa said that the samples from those infected with measles were sent to Hawaii for testing, which was positive, resulting in declaring the outbreak and warning people that “we are currently in the state of emergency.”
More than 60 people died and over 4,000 were infected since the outbreak started in October in the neighboring independent nation of Samoa.
Dr. Tufa said, “American Samoa will get a measles vaccine shipment from the US Centers for Disease Control and Protection on Monday.”
The health officials reported a 99.7 percent vaccination rate of measles, mumps, and rubella in the territory. However, Dr. Tufa noted there is more to be done to up the vaccination rate for children between one and five, which is currently at 84.7 percent. He said, “The number one way to stop the spread of measles is to immunize.”
The American Samoa government started taking action after nearly 76 Hawaii healthcare workers returned to their homes after voluntarily providing measles vaccine to thousands of people in the independent nation of Samoa.”
Honolulu Surgeon Dr. Paulus Tsai said, “You have scores of people dying, and the society is paralyzed. Basically, life has come to a standstill for the island.”
Last week, Samoa declared a state of emergency and closed all government and business operations and even restricted travel weeks before the Christmas holidays.
The officials said more than 34,000 people were immunized over a couple of days. Dr. Dale Glenn from Straub Medical Centre said, “Of all the efforts to save children around the world, immunization has the most dramatic impact. Everybody came together with their aloha to unite and support Samoa and attack this disease head-on in a way that will make a permanent difference in the lives of the people.”
