Measles outbreak in Mumbai: Toddler dies; 126 children infected with disease so far this year

Mumbai: A one-year-old boy has died of measles in Mumbai amid the outbreak of the viral infection in the city where 126 children have contracted the disease so far this year, civic officials said on Tuesday.

The boy, from Null Bazar area, was undergoing treatment at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation-run Kasturba Hospital in Chinchpokli since last week and died on Monday, a BMC official said.

According to doctors, “septicemia with acute renal failure with measles bronchopneumonia” was the cause of the child’s death, the official said.

Some parts of Mumbai have witnessed an outbreak of measles. At least 99 children have been found infected with the viral disease since September and 126 since January this year, as per the civic body’s bulletin.

The BMC has set up a special ward at the Kasturba Hospital for the treatment of the children infected with measles.

As per its bulletin, 61 children were admitted to the Kasturba Hospital with measles-like symptoms between November 4 and 14. Twelve of them were hospitalised on Monday, it said. Civic officials have appealed to the parents to get children in the 9-16 age group vaccinated against the disease.

“In measles, the child gets fever, cold, cough and red rashes on the body. Complications from this disease can be serious in children who are partially vaccinated or unvaccinated,” a BMC release earlier said.

The Union Health Ministry last week said it has deputed a high-level multi-disciplinary team to Mumbai to take stock of the upsurge of measles cases in the city.

The team will assist the state health authorities in instituting public health measures and facilitate operationalisation of requisite control and containment measures, it had said.