Five more people died with measles-like symptoms in Bangladesh in the 24 hours from 8am Sunday to 8am Monday, taking the total number of deaths linked to measles and measles-like symptoms since 15 March to 938, the Directorate General of Health Services said on Monday.
The update was released in the health directorate’s regular measles bulletin.
According to the Directorate General of Health Services, 839 people have died with measles-like symptoms and 99 have died from confirmed measles infections since 15 March.
Dhaka division has recorded the highest number of deaths with measles-like symptoms so far, at 372. Sylhet division follows with 141 deaths. The other divisional totals are 49 in Barishal, 64 in Chattogram, 33 in Khulna, 74 in Mymensingh, 92 in Rajshahi and 14 in Rangpur.
The health directorate said 1,149 more people developed measles-like symptoms across the country in the past 24 hours. That brought the total number of suspected cases since 15 March to 150,652.
During the same 24-hour period, 83 people were confirmed to have measles. Since 15 March, the total number of confirmed measles cases has reached 18,487.
The Directorate General of Health Services’ regular statistics do not include an age-wise breakdown of the deaths. Epidemiologists say measles can affect people of all ages, although children are more commonly infected.
