Wang Yuanyuan

A TOTAL of 493 cases of measles were recorded in Shenzhen in April, 65.6 percent more than the total number of cases reported in the preceding three months, the city’s center for disease control and prevention (CDC) said Friday.

All districts apart from Yantian saw a sharp increase in the number of measles cases. Between Jan. 1 and May 5, a total of 1,245 cases of measles were reported in the city, 74.4 percent more than the same period last year and the largest number in Guangdong Province, the CDC said.

According to a CDC report, measles mainly strikes children under the age of 4 (44 percent) and people above the age of 20 (37.3 percent). About 90 percent of the victims were not holders of hukou or permanent residence permit, and a similar number had never received measles inoculations, officials with the CDC said.

The CDC started offering free measles shots from March mainly for children aged 8 months to 6 years. During the period of May and June, which is the peak period for the disease each year, the inoculation coverage will be extended to children aged up to 14.

The health authorities have suggested children aged between 8 months and 17 years, who have never received inoculations, get injections at once.

Measles is an acute infectious disease of the respiratory tract, which always breaks out between May and October in the city. Common symptoms include fever, red eyes, coughing and skin eruptions. Some cases result in heart failure, paralysis, epilepsy and mental retardation.

Parents can take their children to 424 community clinics and hospitals across the city to get measles shots, CDC officials said.