Measles outbreak: BMC starts vaccination drives and door-to-door survey in Mumbai

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After the measles outbreak in Mumbai's slum pockets, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has now started a vaccination drive in F/North, H/East, L, M/East and P/North wards in the city.

The civic body has also appealed to the parents to complete measles and rubella vaccination for their 9-month-old and 16-month-old children.

According to the BMC, the vaccination sessions are being conducted in Parel, Bandra East, Santacruz East, Kurla, Govandi, Chembur and Malad West areas due to rise in measles, rubella cases among children aged between zero to five years.

"We have requested people to cooperate with the municipal administration by completing the immunization of children," said the BMC's public health official.

The BMC also said that it has been found that one child died due to measles. Due to this, the suspected patients of measles and rubella is being surveyed by doing a door-to-door survey.

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"Blood and urine samples of suspected patients are being taken for examination. Out of the total number of measles cases in the survey, about 10 per cent of children were found to be partially vaccinated and 25 per cent of children were unvaccinated," according to the official statement of BMC.

In measles, the child gets fever, cold, cough, and red rash on the body. Complications from this disease can be serious in children who are partially vaccinated and unvaccinated. Children who are fully vaccinated are unlikely to develop such complications.

Centre deploys high-level team to Mumbai to manage measles outbreak

The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has deputed a high-level multi-disciplinary team to Mumbai to take stock of the upsurge in cases of measles in the city. The team will assist the State Health Authorities in instituting public health measures and facilitate the operationalization of requisite control and containment measures.

The three-member team comprises experts drawn from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), New Delhi, Lady Hardinge Medical College (LHMC), New Delhi and Regional Office for Health and Family Welfare, Pune, Maharashtra. The team is headed by Dr. Anubhav Srivastava, Deputy Director, Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP), NCDC.

As per the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare press statement, the team will also undertake field visits to investigate the outbreak and assist the state health departments in terms of public health measures, management guidelines and protocols to manage the increasing cases of Measles being reported in Mumbai.