Recovering from measles does not mean children are out of danger. Figures from three public hospitals in Dhaka and Chattogram show that of 34,934 children treated with measles symptoms between 15 March and 10 November, 25,691, or about 74 per cent, were diagnosed with pneumonia. Many have serious lung complications, and some need long treatment, oxygen or intensive care.
At the Covid-19 hospital in Mohakhali, 18,232 of 22,790 patients admitted had pneumonia. At the Bangladesh Shishu Hospital and Institute, 2,293 of 3,591 children admitted with measles had it, and at Chattogram Medical College Hospital 5,166 of 8,553.
In the 24 hours to 8am on Wednesday, six more people died with measles symptoms, according to the Directorate General of Health Services' control room. Over the same period 1,351 new suspected cases were recorded and 113 were confirmed. Dhaka division had the most new suspected cases (533), followed by Sylhet (166).
Professor Md Atiqul Islam of the Bangladesh Shishu Hospital says its pneumonia ward used to hold five to seven children at a time; this year post-measles pneumonia alone keeps 25 to 30 there. Pneumonia is one of the main complications of measles. The hospital's measles ward now has more than a hundred patients, over half of them with pneumonia.
The hospital's director, Professor Mirza Md Ziaul Islam, says malnutrition, gaps in vaccination, air pollution and taking children into crowded places raise the risk. Professor Mohammad Musa Mia, head of paediatrics at Chattogram Medical College Hospital, says measles weakens children's immunity and damages the mucosal lining, leaving them open to pneumonia, diarrhoea and other infections, and some are developing encephalitis, inflammation of the brain. He advises parents to stay watchful for three months after measles.
Parents at the hospitals describe the same pattern. Shimla Islam of Fateyabad in Chattogram says her 14-month-old daughter developed severe breathing trouble soon after measles was diagnosed, and was later found to have complicated pneumonia.
According to icddr,b data for 2023, about 24,000 children under five die of pneumonia in Bangladesh every year. The country marks Pneumonia Day today, Thursday, under the theme "a new era in pneumonia control". The report is by Samakal's Tabibur Rahman in Dhaka and Shoibal Acharjee in Chattogram.
Source: Samakal
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