By Godfrey Maganda

Aug. 22 (Bloomberg) -- At least 22 people died in Southern Sudan after an outbreak of measles, said Rueben Madit, a Health Ministry official.

The worst-affected area is in Maiwut County in the northeastern Upper Nile state, Madit said in a telephone interview today from Malakal, the state capital. The deaths occurred in the last four days and those infected have been admitted to hospital.

``We are doing all we can to eradicate the disease but we are poorly equipped,'' Madit said.

Health authorities are sending a medical team to the area to carry out vaccinations in an effort to stop the disease spreading, Peter Oganjok, director of Health and Immunization in Upper Nile, said in a phone interview. An immunization campaign that was supposed to have been carried out last year didn't take place because of heavy rains, he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Godfrey Maganda in Arua via Johannesburg at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net.