There is no measles testing lab in Chittagong, the country’s second largest city and commercial capital. Patients’ samples have to be sent to Dhaka. This has put both the patients and their relatives in a crisis. However, to reduce the suffering, the Department of Health is verifying the measles testing capacity at the Bangladesh Institute of Tropical and Infectious Diseases (BITID) in Sitakunda.
\nAccording to hospital sources, children of different ages are being admitted to government and private hospitals in Chittagong every day with measles symptoms such as fever, cold and cough, shortness of breath and red rashes on the body. So far, 35 people have been diagnosed with measles and one has died.
\nThis is also increasing the concern of parents. However, despite being a divisional city, there is no measles testing facility in Chittagong. Samples have to be collected and sent to Dhaka. Dr. Musa Mia, head of the child health department at CHMEC Hospital, said that since there has been a major outbreak, further decentralization may be required if such a situation arises in the future. Perhaps if more labs are set up, it will be possible to quickly determine whether it is measles or some other viral infection in such cases.
\nHe also said that identifying the measles virus is very important for early detection of any epidemic or disaster and for strategic planning regarding vaccination. Apart from Cox’s Bazar and the three hill districts, patients with measles symptoms come to Chittagong from almost all the districts of the division\u2014such as Comilla, Noakhali, Brahmanbaria, Chandpur, Laxmipur, Feni\u2014and they are also facing problems due to lack of testing facilities.
\nChittagong Civil Surgeon Dr. Jahangir Alam said, IPH is in Dhaka. We send samples from there and the report comes within two to three days. Meanwhile, the Health Department is verifying the measles testing capacity of the Bangladesh Institute of Tropical and Infectious Diseases (BITID) located in Fauzdarhat.
\nDivisional Director (Health) Dr. Sheikh Fazle Rabbi said that they have adequate manpower and technical expertise. Working doctors are also capable of doing these tests. However, this activity is not possible without the provision of necessary kits, reagents and ancillary equipment.
\nOn the other hand, Acting Director of BITID, Dr. Iftekhar Ahmed said, “We have BSL-2 Plus and BSL-3 i.e. Biosafety Level-3 laboratories, which we can call the only effective Biosafety Level-3 laboratory in Bangladesh. We have adequate capacity to diagnose ongoing measles or measles cases.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There is no measles testing lab in Chittagong, the country’s second largest city and commercial…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":63584,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[288],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nationwide"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biztrend24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Untitled-design-1-7.jpg?fit=1280%2C720&ssl=1?v=1776233812",1280,720,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biztrend24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Untitled-design-1-7.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1?v=1776233812",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biztrend24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Untitled-design-1-7.jpg?fit=300%2C169&ssl=1?v=1776233812",300,169,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biztrend24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Untitled-design-1-7.jpg?fit=640%2C360&ssl=1?v=1776233812",640,360,true],"large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biztrend24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Untitled-design-1-7.jpg?fit=640%2C360&ssl=1?v=1776233812",640,360,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biztrend24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Untitled-design-1-7.jpg?fit=1280%2C720&ssl=1?v=1776233812",1280,720,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biztrend24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Untitled-design-1-7.jpg?fit=1280%2C720&ssl=1?v=1776233812",1280,720,true],"covernews-slider-full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biztrend24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Untitled-design-1-7.jpg?resize=1115%2C715&ssl=1?v=1776233812",1115,715,true],"covernews-slider-center":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biztrend24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Untitled-design-1-7.jpg?resize=800%2C500&ssl=1?v=1776233812",800,500,true],"covernews-featured":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biztrend24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Untitled-design-1-7.jpg?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1?v=1776233812",1024,576,true],"covernews-medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biztrend24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Untitled-design-1-7.jpg?resize=540%2C340&ssl=1?v=1776233812",540,340,true],"covernews-medium-square":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biztrend24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Untitled-design-1-7.jpg?resize=400%2C250&ssl=1?v=1776233812",400,250,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"Biz Trend 24","author_link":"https:\/\/biztrend24.com\/author\/online24"},"category_info":"Nationwide<\/a>","tag_info":"Nationwide","comment_count":0,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biztrend24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Untitled-design-1-7.jpg?fit=1280%2C720&ssl=1?v=1776233812","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":66891,"url":"https:\/\/biztrend24.com\/?p=66891&lang=en","url_meta":{"origin":63583,"position":0},"title":"Child dies of measles symptoms in Noakhali","author":"Biz Trend 24","date":"May 24, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"A 7-year-old child named Md. Samit has died of measles symptoms at the 250-bed Noakhali General Hospital. This is the first death due to measles symptoms in the district. In addition, 19 more patients have been newly admitted with measles symptoms in the last 24 hours. The child died at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "National"","block_context":{"text":"National","link":"https:\/\/biztrend24.com\/?cat=284&lang=en"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biztrend24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Untitled-design-3-8.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biztrend24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Untitled-design-3-8.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biztrend24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Untitled-design-3-8.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biztrend24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Untitled-design-3-8.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biztrend24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Untitled-design-3-8.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":65640,"url":"https:\/\/biztrend24.com\/?p=65640&lang=en","url_meta":{"origin":63583,"position":1},"title":"6 more children die with measles symptoms","author":"Biz Trend 24","date":"May 11, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"In the last 24 hours, 6 more children have died with measles symptoms. In addition, 1,459 people have been newly admitted to hospitals during this period. This information was given in a press release sent by the Directorate General of Health Services on Monday (May 11). 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