Belize on High Alert After Health Officials Confirm 12 Measles Cases

A sudden outbreak of measles has Belizean health officials on high alert, with twelve cases confirmed across the country and clusters emerging in Punta Gorda, the Cayo District, and Belize City. Most infections have been traced to travelers from Guatemala, where cases have surged since April, raising fears of cross-border spread. The Ministry of Health has launched nationwide surveillance and isolation measures, but the impact is already being felt, one Belize City school was forced to cancel its sports day after a suspected case. We heard from Laura Friesen, Acting Deputy Director of Public Health and Wellness, who stressed that while all clusters are linked to imported infections, the presence of local transmission highlights the urgent need for vigilance as Belize works to contain the disease.

 

Laura Friesen, Acting Deputy Director, Public Health & Wellness

“All the cases have been linked to travel to Guatemala. So at this point, we don’t have any evidence of local spread in our country. However, we would encourage the public to get vaccinated, because having constant introductions from travel to Guatemala means that there is risk of an outbreak in our country if the population is not vaccinated. So we would really encourage everyone who is considering to travel especially to get vaccinated, but also if you are not considering to travel, also get vaccinated so that if the virus does come, you do come in contact with the virus at any point in time. And sometimes this contact can be a contact that you do not realize, because it might be a very brief contact. It could be in a public place. It could be in public transportation. So the very, very best thing is for you to get your measles vaccine so that if you would come in contact with the virus, your body is already trained to fight that virus, and that infection would not take hold in your body. So remember that if there’s more than one unvaccinated person in a household, measles is very contagious. It’s very difficult to avoid if there’s one person that’s sick in the household. So even if that person goes under isolation immediately, in that household, there is still that risk of exposure to anyone in that household.”

 

Belize’s measles outbreak has led to one hospitalization so far, with all patients recovering, but health officials warn the virus can cause serious, long-term health complications.

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

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