ISLAMABAD, Oct 27: Twenty-two quake victims have died from tetanus and one person has died from measles since the earthquake disaster struck Pakistan on Oct 8, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Thursday.
A total of 111 people suffering from potentially deadly tetanus were being treated in hospitals, it said, as health workers continued to vaccinate thousands of people against both diseases.
“We have had 22 deaths from tetanus over the past several days,” WHO’s country head Rachel Lavy told AFP.
She said the deaths from tetanus were not surprising because quake injuries were often dirty and it could take several days for the wounded to get medical attention.
WHO communications officer Sacha Bootsma said the number of tetanus cases was falling, with only a handful coming in during the last two days.
Bootsma added that one person had died of measles in the quake zone, while a total of 30 cases of the highly-infectious disease had been reported.
Lavy said the WHO had sufficient stocks of anti-tetanus medication to treat infected people and it was also vaccinating people, particularly women and children, in quake-affected areas.
