Suspected measles cases kill nearly 1,000 children as Bangladesh struggles to contain outbreak

DHAKA, Bangladesh — Eight-month-old Rojatun Jannat Ramisa is struggling to breathe in a hospital in Bangladesh’s capital as her parents sit helplessly beside her. She’s one of thousands of children sickened by a measles outbreak that’s sweeping across the country and has killed hundreds of children following setbacks to the country’s vaccine program. Ramisa’s mother Ranu Akhter traveled hundreds of kilometers after doctors in eastern Bangladesh referred her to a specialized child hospital in Dhaka to seek treatment for the life-threatening condition. “Fourteen days ago, when we were at the district hospital, there were other children being treated alongside my daughter. I saw that those children also had red rashes on their bodies, sores in their mouths and fevers,” Akhter told The Associated Press at Dhaka Shishu Hospital. “It made me realize how widespread the measles outbreak is,” she said. Every day, the death toll is rising.

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