Another child dies of measles

Serbia lost a third child to measles on Thursday (April 5) when doctors at the Mother and Child Institute hospital in Belgrade took a two year girl off life support machines.

The girl, identified only by the initials NP, had autoimmune disease and could not be inoculated. She is the 13th person to die of measles in Serbia.

An anti-vaccination campaign has been underway in Serbia for months, launched by people fearing possible complications from the vaccines.The Health Ministry has filed more than 1,200 misdemeanor charges against parents refusing to inoculate their children, Belgrade daily newspaper Politika reported adding that the courts were handing down minimum fines under the Law on Protecting the Population From Infectuous diseases.

There are an estimated 4,500 cases of measles in Serbia.