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Measles outbreak link to religious tour denied

Staff Reporter

Mata's mutt terms Australian claims baseless

File picture of Mata Amritanandamayi

SYDNEY/KOCHI: While Australian health officials on Friday said an outbreak of measles in the country had been linked to a tour by Mata Amritanandamayi, whose events were attended by thousands of people, a spokesperson for the spiritual leader's movement denied it in Kerala.

The New South Wales Health Department said 42 cases of measles had been reported in the State since mid-March. An epidemiologist said 23 of the cases involved people who went to see Amritanandamayi during her March 31-April 16 tour. "They [the touring group] had people who were sick [with measles] travelling with them. They had come in from overseas and joined the tour group and became sick as they travelled around. We have had 23 of our cases linked to the meetings of the group."

In Kochi, Swami Ramakrishnananda Puri, treasurer of the Mata Amritanandamayi Mutt, who had been travelling abroad with the Mata, told The Hindu that the 48 people who made up the group that visited Australia, as also Malaysia and Singapore, were "hale and hearty." Reports linking any outbreak of measles to the group were baseless, he said. Many in the group had since accompanied her to New York, where she received an award.

"There was absolutely no health problem with any of the tour members. However, many kinds of people come to receive Amma's blessings and some of them who were infected much earlier could have come to the programmes," he said.

Mata Amritanandamayi arrived in Kochi from New York on Friday to participate in a three-day Brahmasthanam temple festival.

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