DHAKA
\nThe death toll from measles in Bangladesh has topped 1,000 children since March, health officials said Wednesday, admitting that failures in a vaccination drive may have fuelled the outbreak.
\nThe South Asian nation of 170 million has recorded 1,002 deaths and 187,484 infections among children, making this year\u2019s outbreak the country\u2019s deadliest in decades, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
\nMeasles is highly contagious, spreading through coughs and sneezes, and has no specific treatment once caught. Complications can include brain swelling and severe breathing problems. Although anyone can catch the disease, young children are particularly vulnerable.
\nThe disease has kept spreading in Bangladesh even as health authorities rolled out a mass vaccination drive to combat the outbreak. DGHS spokesman Zahid Raihan said more than 18 million children had been vaccinated so far, and teams were searching for those who had missed inoculations. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t achieve herd immunity,\u201d Raihan told media.
\nOfficial figures show that around four million children were left out of the campaign, leaving pockets of vulnerability that experts say have fuelled the outbreak. \u201cMeasles cannot be eradicated and the aim was to reduce casualties. We will keep vaccinating our children,\u201d Raihan said.
\nControlling the outbreak, however, required more than vaccinations, Raihan said, pointing to the need to tackle chronic malnutrition among children – a factor that can worsen the disease\u2019s impact. The mounting measles crisis is also stretching an already burdened healthcare system as authorities grapple with a simultaneous surge in dengue fever cases.
\n\u201cHospitals with the capacity to handle 50 dengue patients are now dealing with 500,\u201d Raihan said. Nine people died from dengue on Tuesday alone, while 1,571 patients were admitted to hospitals, according to health department data.
\nSince January, Bangladesh has recorded 45,475 dengue cases and 130 deaths. In 2023, there were 321,017 cases of the mosquito-borne disease – the highest figure recorded in the country. Junior Health Minister MA Muhit warned that dengue cases could rise further in the coming weeks.
\n\u201cIf we take measures to keep our surroundings clean, we may see a lower incidence of dengue,\u201d he said at a seminar on Wednesday. \u201cOtherwise… dengue may take a dangerous turn in the last week of September and early October.\u201d
\nPrime Minister Tarique Rahman is scheduled to inaugurate a three-month nationwide anti-dengue campaign on Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
DHAKA The death toll from measles in Bangladesh has topped 1,000 children since March, health officials said Wednesday, admitting that failures in a vaccination drive may have fuelled the outbreak. The South Asian nation of 170 million has recorded 1,002 deaths and 187,484 infections among children, making this year\u2019s outbreak the country\u2019s deadliest in decades, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":566493,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-566486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n