6-month-old dies of suspected measles

Civic officials informed that the child was not eligible for the measles vaccine which is usually administered to children after the age of 9 months, therefore he was unvaccinated.

Mumbai: A 6-month-old boy from Sion, who was undergoing treatment for measles at a government hospital, passed away on Monday. This is the fifth death from the viral infection in January. With this, the total death toll from the disease since the epidemic broke out in September stands at 23.

Giving details about the child, the civic officials said that he first started developing the symptoms of the infection on January 4. “He was admitted to the ICU of a BMC-run hospital three days later where he was put on a ventilator due to experiencing breathing difficulty. His condition kept deteriorating during the hospitalisation,” said an official. (Shutterstock)

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)’s death review committee is yet to confirm measles as the cause of death. Civic officials informed that the child was not eligible for the measles vaccine which is usually administered to children after the age of 9 months, therefore he was unvaccinated.

Giving details about the child, the civic officials said that he first started developing the symptoms of the infection on January 4. “He was admitted to the ICU of a BMC-run hospital three days later where he was put on a ventilator due to experiencing breathing difficulty. His condition kept deteriorating during the hospitalisation,” said an official.

They further said that the child’s oxygen level dropped considerably in the early hours of Monday. Though he was administered CPR as well as bag and tube ventilation, he could not be revived. The cause of death has been noted down as acute respiratory failure with bronchopneumonia while having measles.

Out of the 23 deaths, BMC’s death review committee has confirmed only eight of them to be caused by measles. They will not be reviewing the cause of death for three kids who underwent treatment at civic hospitals in the city but belonged to nearby towns.

Currently, there are 76 outbreaks of the disease in 20 wards in the city. Kurla (L ward) has the highest disease burden with 14 outbreaks and 73 cases. Out of the 338 beds available for measles patients across the various government hospitals in the city, 62 are currently occupied.