Six more children died from measles and measles-like symptoms in the 24 hours to 8 a.m. on Tuesday, taking Bangladesh's combined toll of suspected and laboratory-confirmed measles-related deaths this year to 1,240, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said in its daily update.

Source: The Business Standard / DGHS

Of the total, 1,135 deaths are classified as suspected measles-related and 105 as confirmed through laboratory tests, the DGHS said. A total of 1,232 new suspected cases were reported in the same 24-hour period, taking cumulative suspected cases nationwide to 223,784, while 63 new confirmed cases took laboratory-confirmed infections to 23,541. Since March 15, a total of 199,127 patients with suspected measles have been hospitalised, of whom 191,090 have recovered, according to the DGHS.

“A litmus test and a warning sign”

Experts have warned that deadly outbreaks of diphtheria, whooping cough and polio could follow the measles epidemic, according to a report by an independent committee of national and international experts, seen by AFP on Monday. “The measles outbreak is a litmus test and a warning sign of a deteriorating immunization system,” the report said.

Source: AFP

“If no urgent mitigation measures are taken, it is only a matter of time before there are large outbreaks of pertussis (whooping cough), diphtheria and even vaccine-derived poliovirus,” the report added. It has been submitted to the government.

Bangladesh has struggled since March to contain the outbreak, which AFP reported has killed more than 1,200 children and infected 220,000 people, making it the country's deadliest in decades, according to the DGHS. A review supported by the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, the Gavi vaccine alliance and other partners — which deployed a 70-member team earlier this month to assess the immunisation programme — found that just 82 percent of children were fully immunised, well below the national target of 95 percent, and that around 40 percent of vaccinator posts remain vacant.

Ministry pledges vaccinators first

The health ministry pledged action on Monday. “We are going to recruit vaccinators as quickly as possible as the first step towards implementing the recommendations,” ministry spokesman Zahid Raihan told AFP.

The crisis marks a sharp reversal for a country long considered an immunisation success story: since its programme began in 1979, Bangladesh has eliminated polio and neonatal tetanus and controlled rubella and hepatitis B, AFP reported. What happens next will depend on how quickly vaccinators are recruited and missed children are reached, the experts' report implied.