While the global Covid-19 pandemic is the priority for health officials the world over, a smaller outbreak of a similar kind is also worrying those in México state, Mexico City and now Campeche.

According to the Health Ministry’s epidemiology department, the number of measles cases in the country doubled in just 10 days.

The outbreak began in a prison in the north of Mexico City on February 23, and state health officials reported on March 21 that the number of cases had grown to 49. In the 10 days since, that number has more than doubled to 101.

A Health Ministry epidemiology report issued at 10:00 p.m. on Tuesday said that 87 of the cases are located in Mexico City, 13 are in México state and one has been identified in the state of Campeche, the first of this outbreak confirmed outside of the Valley of México.

Smaller concentrations of imported measles cases sprouted up in several states last year, including Quintana Roo, Chihuahua, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí and México state, but none of them grew to such numbers as the current outbreak.

The borough of Gustavo A. Madero, where the outbreak’s epicenter — the Reclusorio Norte prison — is located, has most of the city’s measles patients with 47. Cases have also been confirmed in 11 other boroughs in the city.

Five of the 13 infected people in México state are in Ecatepec, and there are also measles cases in Tecámac, Tlalnepantla, Naucalpan, Atizapán de Zaragoza, Nezahualcóyotl and Chimalhuacán.

The case reported in Campeche is in the municipality of Champotón, where a 5-year-old girl contracted the disease despite having received the measles vaccine.

Of the 101 confirmed cases, 57 are adults aged 17-68, while 44 are children ranging from four months to 13 years old, and 19 had been vaccinated against the disease before contracting it.

Source: La Silla Rota (sp)