Romania measles epidemic kills 46, baby

Romanian health authorities say a nine-month old baby has died of measles, the 46th fatality from an epidemic that has struck the country over the past year.

The National Centre for the Supervision and Control of Transmissible Diseases said on Friday that the infant, from the Black Sea port of Constanta, had not been vaccinated.

It said 204 new cases of measles were reported this week in Romania, taking the confirmed total to nearly 12,000 since the disease's outbreak last year.

The virus is spread in the air through coughing or sneezing.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said in February that the number of measles cases across the continent tripled last year, with Romania and Italy the worst affected.