Doctors warn of deadly measles complication

Public health, explained: Sign up to receive Healthbeat’s free national newsletter here.The first sign came when Deepanwita Dasgupta was 5 and started stumbling more while playing at her home in Bangalore in southern India. The girl was always up to something, so her parents figured extra bumps and bruises were just symptoms of an active childhood. Maybe, they thought, it was ill-fitting shoes.Relatives described the unicorn-loving child as smart, affectionate, and occasionally rascally. Before she learned the alphabet, she had figured out how to find her favorite show, “Blippi,” on a phone. She was known to sneak butter from the fridge to enjoy a few finger licks.But then her limbs started jerking. A spinal tap revealed measles in her cerebrospinal fluid. The virus she probably had as an infant had secretly made its way to her brain. Now 8 years old, Deepanwita is paralyzed, unable to talk.Measles causes complications — ranging from diarrhea to death — in 3 in 10 infected people, acco