8-month-old suspected to die from measles, tally at 12
MUMBAI: An 8-month-old boy from Bhiwandi died of suspected measles on Wednesday, taking the death toll of children dying from measles related complications to 12. The infant from Bhiwandi had developed symptoms of measles on Friday and was admitted to Kasturba hospital after he began experiencing severe breathing difficulties. He was put on life support but he died on late Wednesday evening.
“The child was only partially immunized. He had all the symptoms of measles. However, the cause of death will be ascertained once we get the post mortem report,” said a municipal health official.
The number of confirmed measles cases in the city has reached 233, thirteen of which were confirmed on Tuesday. The BMC has been conducting several additional vaccination camps, besides the regular ones, to ensure all unvaccinated children are covered. They have also appealed to parents to get all children between 9 months and 5 years of age vaccinated against measles but they are dealing with considerable vaccine hesitancy in large pockets of the city.
Currently, there are 22 outbreaks in the city, mostly concentrated in the eastern suburbs of Govandi, Shivaji Nagar, Chembur and Kurla. Dharavi and Mahim that fall under the H east ward have also seen a high number of measles cases. Outbreaks are defined as clusters in close proximity of each other with a significant number of an infection. Only the first few cases from that area are sent for confirmation of the disease and subsequent cases with similar symptoms are assumed to be caused by the outbreak.
“Measles can have a very high secondary infection rate. Nine out of ten, who are not vaccinated will get the disease once there is an outbreak. Transmission rate of the viral infection is also very high during winter,”
said said Dr Amin Kaba, paediatrician, who was part of BMC measles campaign in 2018. He also said that India has historically had the highest number of measles cases and deaths. The numbers can be brought down with good vaccination coverage, he added.
The central government that plans to eliminate measles and rubella by the end of 2023,
meanwhile, has asked the states to get into the outbreak response immunisation mode by covering children between 6 and 9 months of ages in their measles vacccination drive as well. BMC’S executive health officer Dr Mangala Gomare said that while the civic body had received the circular in this regard on Wednesday, they had not yet made concrete plans in this regard.