Children suffer as Pakistan battles measles epidemic

LAHORE: In the intensive-care ward of Lahore's Mayo hospital, pale, spotty children cry in the intense heat of the Pakistani summer -- victims of a devastating measles outbreak.

Punjab, Pakistan's most populous province of which Lahore is the capital, has borne the brunt of the epidemic. It has 18,000 of the 25,000 cases reported around the country by provincial health authorities and more than 150 -- all children -- of the 495 deaths.