The measles timebomb (From Echo)

The measles timebomb

7:00am Tuesday 19th August 2008 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
• Comments(0)

PARENTS are being urged to vaccinate their children against measles, amid fears of a looming epidemic .

The highly-contagious and potentially fatal disease is on the rise after many parents decided not to allow their children to be given the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) jab – due to a now discredited study which suggested it could be linked to autism and bowel problems.

The Government has now launched a campaign to get children under 18 to have the jab.

Dr Peter Glover, of Church View Surgery in Rayleigh High Street, said: “It’s a serious illness. People have become blase about it and it’s on the rise again.

“I don’t think people are so bad around here about getting the MMR, but you still get a few who are very anxious. But it’s important to get it done.”

In the area of South East Essex Primary Care Trust 79 per cent of children have been vaccinated against the disease by the age of six. But doctors say this needs to rise to about 95 per cent or the disease could spread.

There are severe complications in about 10 to 15 per cent of measles cases. These can include a cough and breathing difficulties (croup), ear infections, pneumonia, eye infections (conjunctivitis), and convulsions.

More worryingly, it can also cause problems with a child’s central nervous system. In- flammation of the brain, (acute encephalitis) affects less than one in 1,000 cases – but 25 per cent of those who develop the complication are left with brain damage.

Louise Plummer, of Sunnymede Close, Thundersley, said she planned to put her trust in the experts. She will be taking her one-year-old son Archie to get the jab this week.

“If that’s what they offer, you go for it,” she said.

“It isn’t a proven fact that you could get autism. They could still have a risk of autism even if they didn’t have the injection. Measles can be life threatening.”

The Health Protection Agency has said there is now a real risk of a measles outbreak of up to 100,000 cases, although Professor Elizabeth Miller, the agency’s head of immunisation, said more people were getting the jab.

She said: “Public confidence in the vaccine is now high, with more than eight out of ten children receiving one dose of the vaccination by their second birthday.

“However, low vaccine uptake over the past decade means there is now a large group of children who either haven’t been vaccinated or who’ve received just one dose.”

The spread of measles is evident across Essex. There were 75 recorded cases in 2005, rising almost threefold to 200 in 2007.

Paul Ilett, spokesman for South East Essex Primary Care Trust, said extra funds, vaccines and information would be made available across the region.

He added: “Parents can be reassured of the safety of the vaccine.

“Thorough research has failed to show any link between the vaccine and autism. The risks of not having the vaccine far outweigh any possible risks from it.”