Surge in Measles Among Infants Raises Alarm as Unvaccinated Mothers Fail to Pass Immunity
Photo Collected
A 21-day-old infant is currently battling measles in the intensive care unit of the Bangladesh Shishu Hospital and Institute, highlighting a disturbing trend of the virus affecting children far younger than typically observed. The infant’s condition has alarmed medical professionals, particularly because standard public health protocols rely on the assumption that newborns possess maternal immunity, which delays the first dose of the measles vaccine until nine months of age.
According to the hospital’s director, Professor Mirza Md. Ziaul Islam, the case serves as a grave reminder of the shifting landscape of the disease. The infant arrived at the facility late Saturday from Shariatpur’s Gosairhat upazila after the mother, who is only 15 years old, recovered from a recent bout of measles. Physicians believe the infant contracted the virus from the mother, who reportedly never received the necessary vaccinations during her own childhood.
Medical data from the Shishu Hospital underscores a growing crisis, with 2,021 measles cases recorded so far this year. Of these, 390 patients were younger than six months. The trend challenges the long-held medical consensus that infants are protected by their mothers, as a lack of maternal vaccination leaves newborns entirely vulnerable to the highly contagious virus.
Professor Islam noted that the 15-year-old mother was born in 2011, a time when she should have been eligible for routine immunization. The failure to vaccinate the mother has created a generational gap in immunity, leaving her child without the biological defenses expected at birth. The director has called for an investigation into the breakdown of local vaccination programs in Shariatpur to determine why the young mother missed her scheduled doses and to hold those responsible for the oversight accountable.
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