Suspected measles kills 6, govt wakes up

Chief District Health Officer N.K. Chopra said only one village was affected and that the six deaths had occurred due to post-measles encephalopathy and that they were trying to bring the outbreak under control within a week.

All children who succumbed to the disease, as also a majority of those affected, are said to be below five years. The administration has rushed as many as 30 teams of doctors and paramedics to the spot and surrounding villages, with three medical officers and four supervisors from Vadodara.

Regional Deputy Director S.C. Khasgiwala said children in villages in a 5 km radius from Umraya, from where the outbreak was first reported, will be inoculated. ‘‘We will immunise around 2,698 children from 11 villages here in the next three days with measles vaccine. A door-to-door survey has been launched by our teams,’’ he said.

Till reports last came in, more than 765 children had been vaccinated and given vitamin A supplements in Umraya, Tejpura, Ekalbara, Luna etc. Medicos are vaccinating children with Edmonstin Zagreb, the anti-viral serum for measles.

Meanwhile, in Umraya, the supernatural rules uncontested. Its 3,500-odd residents have a belief that if they go to a doctor for treating their kids of measles, Ori Mata — the deity behind measles — would get angry and take the lives of their children.

The Goddess has already taken six lives.Ranjit Solanki lost his nine-month-old daughter, Manisha, the day after Holi. She had been suffering of a measles-related fever for a week before that but was denied medical help for fear of annoying Ori Mata.

The mood at Manisha’s residence is not much of regret though. ‘‘Sab maante hain aisa. Isliye ek badha rakhi thi (Everyone believes in it, so we had prayed at a local deity’s temple),’’ Solanki told a district health official.

The first death occurred on February 23 when Sonal, one-and-a-half year-old daughter of Ashok Jansingh, succumbed to fever and cold. The matter was hushed up till the outbreak claimed five more children.

Health officials claim helplessness. For once, rightly so. Many parents did not get their children vaccinated against measles after DPT inoculations. ‘‘How does one deal with that?’’ asked Dr Anand Patel.

A paediatrician from the Baroda Medical College said: ‘‘It’s a viral illness and runs its course after which it provides immunity to the body against itself. But some children succumb to it in the post-measles stage which we suspect happened in these cases.’’

Both children of Narabhai, a shopkeeper on the village outskirts, were affected by the anger of the Goddess. His daughter survived but his son succumbed to it. ‘‘It’s God’s will,’’ he said.