The Guatemala Ministry of Health are reporting a measles outbreak in the city of Santiago Atitlán in Sololá department. To date, 10 measles cases have been reported.
Health personnel in Santiago Atitlán have formed 20 teams to trace contacts of positive measles cases- health authorities are actively search for cases and intensify vaccination in Santiago Atitlán, covering 9,000 households.
The alert began with five cases of people who attended a religious event in the municipality in early January.
“Of the people who tested positive, we have to first locate all their contacts and vaccinate them. We need to trace their travel history, regardless of whether it’s local or outside the municipality, because that will help us carry out targeted vaccination. It’s important to have each person’s history: where they traveled, who they had contact with, their family circle. We have been working on all of this since January 2, when the first case was reported,” head of the Health Area in Santiago Atitlán, Dr. Rebeca Chiyal said.
“What we want is to maintain containment of the cases and prevent the spread of the virus from getting out of control,” she said.