The Centre on Wednesday deputed a high-level multi-disciplinary team to Mumbai to assess the situation and manage the measles outbreak in the city.
The team will assist the state health authorities in instituting public health measures and facilitate the operationalisation of requisite control and containment measures.
The three-member central team to Mumbai comprises experts drawn from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), New Delhi; Lady Hardinge Medical College (LHMC), New Delhi; and Regional Office for Health and Family Welfare, Pune, Maharashtra.
The team is headed by Dr Anubhav Srivastava, Deputy Director, Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP), NCDC.
The team will also undertake field visits to investigate the outbreak and assist the State Health Departments in terms of public health measures, management guidelines and protocols to manage the increasing cases of Measles being reported in Mumbai, the Union Health Ministry said.
Mumbai’s civic body – Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation – on Tuesday detected 15 suspected cases of measles in the Govandi slum.
Measles is a highly contagious, serious disease caused by a virus. The virus infects the respiratory tract and then spreads throughout the body. Measles is a human disease and is not known to occur in animals.