Another Child Dies of Measles Symptoms at Mymensingh Medical, Hospital Toll Rises to 81

Another child has died with measles symptoms in the past 24 hours at Mymensingh Medical College Hospital. With this, a total of 81 children have now died at this hospital with measles and measles symptoms — a figure that has brought the severity of this infection among children back into sharp focus locally.

The hospital's assistant director (administration), Md Mainuddin Khan, gave the information on Friday morning (23 October). He provided the latest figures to the media on behalf of the hospital administration.

The child who died was a girl, just eight months old. Her home was in Trishal upazila of Mymensingh. The hospital authorities said that alongside measles, the child was also suffering from pneumonia — the two illnesses together made her condition more complicated.

It is not only deaths that are rising; the number of infections is also growing. In the past 24 hours, 39 more children were admitted to the hospital with measles symptoms, meaning new children are arriving at the hospital every day.

In the same period, 28 children recovered and returned home. Doctors are sending children home cured every day, but because new admissions outnumber them, the pressure on the hospital is not easing.

At present, 172 children are under treatment with measles symptoms at Mymensingh Medical College Hospital. Handling this large number of child patients keeps the hospital's concerned wards busy every day.

Hospital figures show that since 17 March, a total of 5,397 children have received treatment for measles symptoms at this hospital. This continuing flow over more than seven months shows that the infection has not stopped in one place.

Of them, 5,145 children have recovered and gone home. In other words, most children who received treatment have recovered — but the death toll reaching 81 is a major cause for concern.

The death of a child aged only eight months shows that the youngest and weakest children are at the greatest risk from this infection. When complications such as pneumonia are added to measles, that risk grows even further.

Children are coming to this hospital from different areas of the Mymensingh region — the child who died most recently came from Trishal upazila. This suggests the problem is not limited to the city, and that the infection has spread to surrounding upazilas as well.

For parents, these figures carry a warning. If measles symptoms appear in a child, the most urgent step now is to take the child to hospital quickly without delay, and to seek a doctor immediately if complications arise.

All eyes will now be on whether the trend of infections starts to fall. The daily admission and death figures will show whether the situation is coming under control, or whether this measles outbreak in the Mymensingh region is becoming longer still.