DHAKA/LAHORE: A measles outbreak in Bangladesh has turned extremely serious, with deaths linked to the disease crossing 1,000 and suspected cases exceeding 166,000, most of them among young children.
According to official figures, deaths linked to suspected or confirmed measles cases had reached 999 by September 9. Subsequent local reports put the death toll at 1,002.
The outbreak has hit young children hardest. In its early phase, children under the age of five accounted for about 80 percent of cases.
Young children are especially vulnerable to measles because their immune systems are still developing and many in that age group may not yet have completed the recommended vaccine doses. Complications such as pneumonia, severe diarrhoea and dehydration, and in rare cases inflammation of the brain, are the main causes of death, and the risk is higher among malnourished children.
According to experts, the main reason for the outbreak is a gap that emerged in routine vaccination. Routine immunisation was affected after COVID-19, while disruptions to key immunisation campaigns in 2024 and 2025 worsened the situation further.
Measles is among the most contagious diseases known. A single infected person can pass it on to many unvaccinated people around them, which means that even a modest decline in coverage can allow the virus to spread rapidly through communities. According to the World Health Organization, about 95 percent vaccine coverage is needed in a population to stop the disease from spreading.
The scale of the crisis is notable because Bangladesh had for years been regarded internationally as a success story in childhood immunisation, having built one of South Asia’s stronger routine vaccination programmes.
The Bangladeshi government, with the support of the WHO, UNICEF and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, has launched an emergency vaccination campaign under which vaccines have reached around 20 million children.
Such catch-up campaigns aim to vaccinate all children in a target age group regardless of their previous vaccination status, closing immunity gaps quickly and cutting off chains of transmission. Health experts say, however, that emergency campaigns must be followed by stronger routine immunisation, otherwise new cohorts of unprotected children will build up again over time.
There is no specific antiviral treatment for measles. Care focuses on managing symptoms, preventing dehydration, treating complications such as pneumonia, and providing vitamin A supplements, which have been shown to reduce the severity of the disease in children. Two doses of a measles-containing vaccine provide strong, long-lasting protection, which is why prevention remains the central strategy.
The outbreak holds lessons for neighbouring countries whose immunisation programmes were also strained after the pandemic. Pakistan has faced periodic measles outbreaks of its own and continues to battle polio, and Punjab is preparing an anti-polio campaign beginning on September 21 in which senior doctors will help address parents’ vaccine concerns.
Health experts across the region have warned that the pandemic-era slowdown in routine vaccination left millions of children without full protection. Bangladesh’s experience shows how quickly such gaps can turn into a large-scale emergency when a highly infectious disease finds them — and how costly it is, in lives and resources, to close them after the fact.
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