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Zhuang Pinghui

Chris Luo

A measles outbreak has hit a major office building in the capital, with at least 23 people infected, according to the city's health authorities.

The Beijing Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said it had ordered quarantine and emergency vaccinations in Beijing's downtown Chaoyangmen neighbourhood since receiving reports of infections last Thursday.
The centre did not name the building but it has been identified as the "Kaiheng Centre", which houses the Beijing branch of Bank of China.
"To prevent the epidemic from spreading, [we have] already vaccinated the 3,462 workers in the building," the disease control centre said yesterday.
The centre said it had brought the outbreak at the office building "under control" and there had been no new cases from the hot spot since Monday.
China Securities, which occupies another building in the same area, sent out a notice demanding that all staff have vaccinations after four of its employees contracted the disease.
Beijing had 142 registered cases of measles by yesterday, the authorities said last night.
Measles is a highly contagious viral infection of the respiratory system.
It causes high fever, red spots on the body and coughing.
Beijing reported a total of 2,391 measles cases last year.
China had planned to virtually eliminate measles by 2012, but the disease made a comeback as vaccination efforts among its migrant population failed.
China reported more than 56,000 cases of measles last year, more than double the total for the previous year.
The number of cases hit a record low nationally in 2012 with more than 6,000 cases reported, but it soon made a resurgence.
Wang Guoqiang, deputy director of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, said in a statement earlier this month that the number of measles cases in some areas would continue to rise and the situation could develop into an epidemic in some areas where routine vaccination had failed to reach its targets.
No specific antiviral treatment exists for measles.
Routine measles vaccination for children, combined with mass immunisation campaigns in countries with high case and death rates, are key public health strategies to reduce global measles deaths, according to the World Health Organisation.


Measles outbreak erupts in Beijing office building

The Beijing Centre for Disease Control and Prevention did not name the building but it has been identified as the "Kaiheng Centre", which houses the Beijing branch of Bank of China. Photo: SCMP Pictures

News

China

A measles outbreak has hit a major office building in the capital, with at least 23 people infected, according to the city's health authorities.
