New alert on measles
DONCASTER is on measles alert today after an outbreak of the potentially fatal disease struck the borough for the first time in over a year.
Health experts gearing up to deal with more possible cases today urged parents to take their children for MMR vaccinations.
Four children in the borough are confirmed to have contracted measles in the Askern and Bentley areas and two are awaiting the results of tests.
But doctors fear more cases may yet emerge as the virus is highly contagious.
Medics say the latest outbreak indicates measles is far from being eradicated and is starting to become an on-going health problem. Last year 26 Doncaster people caught the virus and there were 39 cases in 2006. Yet in both 2004 and 2005 no cases were reported in the borough at all.
Falling immunisation rates are being blamed for revival of illnesses like measles, which just a few years ago were starting to become rare.
Latest figures reveal nearly 20 per cent of Doncaster's under two-year-olds are not fully protected against MMR - measles, mumps and rubella.
Dr Wendy Phillips, consultant in communicable disease control for the Health Protection Agency in South Yorkshire, said: "This latest outbreak is a timely reminder to parents that children are best protected from the measles virus when they have been given two doses of the MMR vaccination.
"If your child has not been vaccinated, I urge you to contact your GP or health visitor to arrange to give them an MMR immunisation so they can be protected against these nasty illnesses.
"In Doncaster, the number of children who are fully immunised against the measles virus by their second birthday is currently 81.5 per cent compared to 82.4 per cent nationally and 84.1 per cent regionally in Yorkshire and the Humber.
"The World Health Organisation recommends 95 per cent of children need to be vaccinated to protect everyone in the community and make sure infections cannot keep spreading.''
Dr Rupert Suckling, deputy director of public health at Doncaster Primary Care Trust, said measles was a serious illness and could be fatal.
"At the moment MMR vaccine coverage is not high enough to remove the threat of recurrence of measles outbreaks and delaying immunisation is putting children at risk," he said.
"The evidence on MMR is absolutely clear - there is no link between the vaccine and autism and it is time to put that behind us.
"Children can be easily protected by the MMR immunisation. It is a highly effective, safe vaccine, which is given to children in two doses - one when they are aged between 12 and 15 months and one around the time they start school aged four to five.
"We know from research that 10 per cent of people receiving the first dose of the MMR vaccine don't quite have the right level of protection against measles, mumps and rubella and so it is important all children have the second dose as well, to make sure they are fully protected.
"Babies under the age of one are obviously going to be more vulnerable to the infection as they are too young to have had the immunisation and be protected that way.
"Therefore, it is especially important that any older children, especially brothers or sisters, have had both doses of the vaccine so they do not put babies at risk by catching the virus and passing it on."
Symptoms of measles usually develop about 10 days after being in contact with an infectious person and last for up to 14 days from the first signs.
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Weather for Sheffield
Tuesday 22 May 2012
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Temperature: 10 C to 22 C
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