Centre rushes teams to Jharkhand, Gujarat and Kerala after 8-month-old succumbs to Measles in Mumbai

New Delhi: The Centre on Wednesday deployed high level medical teams to Ranchi in Jharkhand, Ahmedabad in Gujarat and Malappuram in Kerala to assess and manage the sudden spike in the number of measles cases among children in these cities. A surge in cases of measles among children have been seen in these three cities.

The move comes close on the heels of the death of an eight-month-old in Mumbai, who succumbed to the disease, taking the total number of deaths due to the infection to 12. The child developed rashes all over his body on November 20 and was admitted to a BMC hospital on Tuesday evening but died within a few hours, the official statement said.

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Barely a day earlier, a one-year-old infant had died in the city and the total number of cases were 233, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said. Nearly 30 measles patients were admitted to civic or state-run hospitals in Mumbai during the day while 22 patients were discharged, the BMC said in a release. The viral infection commonly afflicts children, but adults with low immunity can also catch the disease.

Maharashtra health minister Tanaji Sawant on Tuesday reviewed the situation arising out of the outbreak at a meeting in the state secretariat in south Mumbai. Mumbai on Wednesday recorded 13 new cases of measles, the BMC said.

The Central teams will probe the rising number of measles cases among children in the three states, the health ministry said in a statement. They will also offer help to the state health authorities in tackling the outbreak of the disease among children.

The team will probe the causes for the outbreak and help with requisite control and containment measures, the Union health ministry said.

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