A measles epidemic in Samoa has now claimed 25 lives, with children bearing the brunt of the deadly outbreak, official data in the Pacific island nation showed Monday. The government said they had registered 2,194 cases of the disease — in a population of about 200,000 — with more than half those affected aged under four years old. Officials have declared a state of emergency and said a compulsory immunisation programme was making progress, with more than 17,000 people vaccinated in the past five days.
