SARAJEVO, July 23 (Reuters) - The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF on Tuesday urged Bosnia's authorities to raise the measles vaccination rate among children after two adolescents in the Balkan country died in an outbreak of the highly infectious respiratory illness.
Bosnia has the highest number of measles infections in the Balkans, with more than 7,000 estimated cases recorded since the first outbreak last December. Neighboring Montenegro, in comparison, has only eight cases.
Additionally, the national immunization rate for measles in Bosnia is only 55%, compared with 90% in neighboring Croatia.
"There is no clearer sign of a breakdown in immunization coverage than an increase in measles cases," Erwin Cooreman, the WHO's special representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, said in a statement.
Measles, an airborne virus that mostly affects those under the age of five, can have a devastating effect on children's health, with sometimes fatal consequences, and is preventable with two doses of a vaccine, according to the WHO.
