At least 149 children have died in a measles outbreak in Bangladesh, forcing authorities to launch an emergency vaccination campaign.

Health authorities have confirmed more than 9,000 suspected cases in the outbreak, which began in January and has now spread to 56 of Bangladesh’s 64 districts. 

The first case was reported in a Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar but the virus has surged in recent weeks, primarily affecting unvaccinated infants.

“Ten more children died of suspected measles today, bringing the total number of suspected measles deaths this year to 149,” a health official at Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) in Bangladesh told The Telegraph. He was not authorised to speak with the media.

Eight of the 10 deaths were reported in the capital, Dhaka, with one each in the cities of Rajshahi and Sylhet, he said. A week ago the death toll stood at just 46.

Hospitals in several high-burden regions are already overcrowded and operating with limited capacity, officials said, raising concerns about further spread.

As the death toll surges, Bangladesh has launched an emergency vaccination campaign to protect more than 1.2 million children aged six-months to five years across 18 high-risk districts. 

The vaccination programme will be expanded and gradually scaled up to other districts and cities across the country.

The campaign is prioritising children who have missed routine immunisation and are most vulnerable to severe illness and complications.

In Dhaka and Cox’s Bazar, efforts will be intensified to ensure high coverage in densely populated and high-risk settings.

Unless vaccinations and response measures are scaled up rapidly, transmission is likely to continue expanding, placing further strain on health services and increasing the risk of severe health outcomes among children, health officials fear.

Rana Flowers, Unicef’s Representative in Bangladesh, said: “Unicef is deeply concerned about the sharp rise in measles cases across Bangladesh, putting thousands of children, especially the youngest and most vulnerable, at serious risk.”

The resurgence of a disease once thought largely under control in Bangladesh “highlights critical immunity gaps, particularly among zero-dose and under-vaccinated children, while infections among infants under nine months, who are not yet eligible for routine vaccination, are especially alarming,” she added.

The explosive speed of the outbreak last week prompted the health authorities to lower the age that children become eligible for the first of two vaccine doses to six months.

More than a third of the cases confirmed so far have been in infants younger than nine months, when the first of two doses of the measles vaccine is usually given.

Measles is one of the most highly infectious diseases – a single infected person can, on average, transmit the virus on to between 12 to 18 unvaccinated or non-immune individuals. It primarily affects children and spreads through respiratory droplets.

Symptoms include high fever, cough, runny nose, and a characteristic skin rash. In severe cases, it can lead to pneumonia and even death, particularly among the unvaccinated.

Despite major gains in measles immunisation, cases are rising again as vaccine uptake declines, with more than 11 million infections reported globally in 2024.

The UK has suffered a major outbreak this year claiming two lives, while the United States. is experiencing its worst surge in three decades, with over 2,000 cases reported in 2025.

Both countries, as well as Canada, have lost their measles elimination status as a result.

Health officials say the outbreak in Bangladesh has been driven in part by falling vaccination coverage and delays in mass immunisation campaigns under the previous government.

Bangladesh last conducted a nationwide measles campaign in 2020. A planned follow-up in 2024 did not take place amid political unrest, leaving many children unprotected.

In 2025, the first-jab coverage dropped to 56.5 per cent and second to 57.1 per cent, nearly half of previous levels, creating what public health experts described as a pool of vulnerable children.

Muhammad Ashraful Islam, a Dhaka-based lawyer, has launched legal action seeking a travel ban for former chief adviser Muhammad Yunus and several former officials, alleging that a policy decision involving the transfer of measles vaccination from state management to the private sector contributed to the deadly measles outbreak.

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