Mumbai: A four-year-old girl from Saki Naka died on Monday while undergoing treatment for suspected measles. This would be the sixteenth death in the city suspected to be caused by measles.
According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the child who was only partially immunised, developed the symptoms of measles on December 6. On December 11, her condition worsened and she had to be admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of a civic hospital.
“Even with all the medical assistance provided, her condition kept deteriorating throughout Sunday. She passed away at around 6 am on Monday,” said a BMC official. The cause of death was respiratory failure due to the presence of bronchopneumonia and measles, he added.
Out of the 16 deaths, eight have been confirmed through lab tests to be measles cases, while the lab reports of the others are yet to be received.
Currently, there are 61 outbreaks of viral infection afflicting 18 of the 24 wards of BMC. Under the ongoing outbreak response immunisation (ORI) being undertaken by the civic body, 14.7% of the children between 9 months to 5 years of age have received the special dose of measles vaccine while 30.8% of those between 6 months and 9 months have received the zero dose.
