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Kathmandu,Saturday January 15, 2000 Magh 1st, 2056.
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Measles, not smallpox
This refers to the news “3 succumb to small pox ” in your
January 13 issue. For your information and for the information of the public,
I would like to say that small pox has been eradicated from the world and in 1979, the
World Health Organisation (WHO) certified all countries as small pox free.
The references
your reporter cited might have been the cases of measles. Focal outbreaks of measles are
frequent at this time of the year, and it affects mainly susceptible (not vaccinated)
children and young adults. Be informed that this department has activated medical terms to
control the outbreak.
As the report
you carried might even provoke organizations like WHO and other agencies that were
involved in the eradication efforts and are constantly monitoring the situation
afterwards, such coverage in a paper of your esteem is bound to have negative impact on
the readership.
Dr M B Bista,
Director,
Epidemiology and Disease Control Division, Department of
Health Services |
