Children with measles are arriving at the Bangladesh Shishu Hospital and Institute in Dhaka from districts and remote areas across the country, many already critical with pneumonia. Hospital sources say about 3,500 children with measles have been treated there so far and at least 97 to 98 have died. Ninety-seven are in the hospital now, 25 of them admitted on Monday alone.
Sanjida Khatun brought her son Ayman Sadiq, two months and 27 days old, from Jhikargachha in Jessore after 16 days in the intensive care unit of a local private hospital brought no improvement; after measles, his pneumonia had worsened. Nurjahan Begum came from Jahajmara on Hatiya island in Noakhali with her two-year-old daughter Hamida, who had fever and a rash for 15 to 20 days, then tested positive for malaria, then began struggling to breathe.
The hospital's director, Professor Mirza Md Ziaul Islam, said the main problem is late treatment. In remote areas measles is not being diagnosed properly, and children are left at home even after pneumonia-like symptoms appear. Pneumonia is the biggest complication of measles, he said, and malnutrition adds to it: about 90 per cent of the children admitted are malnourished, which leaves their immunity broken.
Medical officer Marzia Afroz said newborns and children up to two are most at risk, especially those who missed routine vaccination. When diarrhoea, vomiting, convulsions or pneumonia come with measles, ordinary oxygen cannot manage the breathing problem, and the child needs intensive care or even a ventilator.
Yet the 700-bed hospital has only 14 ICU beds, and it is short of staff: for the number of complicated cases arriving, she said, there are far too few doctors, nurses and other workers per patient. The director said about 300 doctors work there now and 50 more are to be recruited by next month.
Doctors say the main way to keep children from reaching this stage is to make sure they get their routine vaccines on time. A child with fever, cold, cough or a rash should see a doctor early, and at any danger sign, such as breathing difficulty, convulsions, repeated vomiting or diarrhoea, should be taken to a specialised hospital without delay.
Reported by Prothom Alo.
Photo: Bangladesh Shishu Hospital and Institute, Dhaka, Md Joni Hossain / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: Prothom Alo
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