The measles outbreak is so widespread that a central team of experts, including a paediatrician and an epidemiologist landed on Friday to meet local health officials. There are 584 children with suspected measles infection in the city.
According to a report of TOI, The sudden rise in suspected cases, said a civic official, is because many private doctors have suddenly started notifying the cases to the local ward office. Measles was made notifiable in 2014 in Maharashtra, but a few doctors report cases. The sudden outbreak seems to have put private practitioners on an alert, the official said.
This year so far, BMC has 109 confirmed cases of measles (most doctors treat measles based on clinical symptoms such as rash and fever and don't always order a laboratory test). The measles outbreak in Govandi was noticed in mid-October, but the death of four children - one with confirmed measles and other three suspected cases - in the last week of October has lent it a worrisome edge. All four children lived near BMC's Lotus Colony health post in Shivaji Nagar, Govandi.