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Journalism of Courage
The number of confirmed measles cases in Mumbai has increased to 126 after laboratory confirmation from National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune. This number may rise further as presently the city has 908 suspected cases of measles.
Out of the total recorded cases, 99 were registered between September and November 14. This is far higher than the cases generally reported annually in Mumbai. As per the data provided by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), 29 and 10 cases were registered in 2020 and 2021 respectively.
Measles is a highly contagious viral disease which affects mostly children. It is one of the leading causes of death and disability among young children. There is no specific treatment for measles but there is a vaccine to protect from the disease, which is both safe as well as cost effective.
At present, a total of 61 suspected measles patients are undergoing treatment at the civic-run Kasturba Gandhi Hospital. Six of them are on oxygen support.
Out of which, 31 children are in the age group of 1-4 years; 15 of them age between 5-9 years; five age between 9-16 months and three are above the age of 15 years. Also, there are eight infants who fall in the age group of 0-8 months. “We have also asked the private hospitals if they receive any patient with suspected measles. We are sending all the samples to NIV which takes 4-5 days for confirmation,” said a BMC officer.
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