High measures have been taken in hospitals in upper Egypt’s governorate of Beni Suef to curb a potential spread of measles as a child died on Thursday.

The number of cases of children who contracted measles in the village of Atwab reached 60 in the past few days, Al-Ahram’s Arabic news website reported.

Following the death of the child, Mahmoud Abdel Ghani, from complications of measles health ministry official Ahmed Anwar said that a medical committee was formed to combat the disease and investigate its spread.  

Anwar also stressed that all children in Beni Suef will measles receive vaccinations.

Children between the ages of nine months and six years should receive measles vaccinations.

The sudden eruption of measles, a highly contagious disease that mostly strikes children, has claimed the lives of six chidlren in the past three weeks in the western oasis of Siwa.

Some 140 others have contracted the disease, 110 of whom finished their treatment at hospitals, health ministry spokesperson Hossam Abdel Ghaffar told Ahram Online last week. 

Around 1,500 children, out of a targeted 4,000, have been inoculated in recent days.

According to data from the World Health Organization (WHO), measles has no specific treatment, and most patients recover within two to three weeks.

The data also stated however that severe complications – including blindness – could arise, particularly in malnourished children and people with reduced immunity.