4-yr-old Kurla girl dies of measles; toll 15

Mumbai: On Friday, a four-year-old girl from Kurla died of suspected measles, leading the total death tally to 15

Mumbai: On Friday, a four-year-old girl from Kurla died of suspected measles, leading the total death tally to 15.

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Authorities from Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said she was suffering from acute malnutrition (SAM) with severe gastroenteritis, which caused refractory metabolic acidosis (excessive acid buildup in the body). She was also suffering from bronchopneumonia along with the possibility of measles. Lab results will confirm if measles was the cause of death.

According to the civic body, the child developed symptoms of measles last Thursday, and was admitted to a civic hospital on Tuesday. “Her condition had been deteriorating since hospitalisation. We shifted her to the ICU on Thursday and she passed away on Friday morning,” said a BMC official.

So far, 11 of the 15 deaths in the city were confirmed by measles, while four are awaiting lab results for confirmation. Three of these children were from distant suburbs, governed by separate civic bodies.

According to the BMC, 11.9 per cent of over 22,000 children aged between nine months and five years, in the outbreak areas have been given an extra dose of the measles vaccine, as part of the outbreak response immunization.

In the six- to nine-month age group, 20 per cent of the 4745 children identified as eligible have been administered the special zero dose of the vaccine.