MMR warning as second outbreak of measles in Wales is investigated

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MMR warning as second outbreak of measles in Wales is investigated

Apr 9 2009 by Madeleine Brindley, Western Mail

UP TO 80,000 children in Wales could be at risk of catching measles because they

have not had a full course of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine (MMR),

experts warned last night.

The staggering number of children potentially unprotected comes as an

investigation is underway into a second outbreak of measles in Wales.

There are 15 suspected and two confirmed cases of the childhood disease in

children under 16 in Pembroke, Pembroke Dock and Llanelli.

And a further 22 people – most of them children – are thought to be infected

with measles in Llandudno.

Four of these cases, in children and their families linked to Ysgol Ffordd

Dyffryn and Ysgol Bright, in Llandudno, have been confirmed as measles.

Experts from the National Public Health Service for Wales (NPHS) last night said

the slump in MMR take-up, caused by the Wakefield scare in 1998, had allowed

measles to regain a foothold in the community.

In the past year measles has become endemic in the UK.

Parental confidence in MMR was rocked when Dr Wakefield suggested a link

between the triple combined jab and autism and bowel disease in 1998. That

research has since been discredited but MMR take-up has not fully recovered to

its pre-1998 levels.

Dr , head of the vaccine preventable disease programme for the

NPHS, said: " It is estimated there are around 80,000 children who have missed

either one or both doses of MMR – there are probably about 40,000 who haven't

had any MMR.

" The most affected children are in year nine at school – aged 13 and 14, and

downwards. These pupils are the least likely to have received MMR, although

there are some older children who will have missed out.

" Until the Wakefield scare, transmission of measles was effectively interrupted

but we are now seeing higher numbers of the disease – last year there were 39

confirmed cases in Wales.

" It is worrying – for those doctors who practised when measles was common in the

1950s and 1960s, they know that even so-called mild measles is a very unpleasant

illness.

" Children are ill for seven days and can get chest and eye symptoms and a

significant minority of cases end up with complications, including pneumonia and

hospitalisation.

" Then there are the rarer complications which include a fatal outcome. There

were fatalities in the Dublin and Netherlands outbreaks, even though these only

involved a few thousand cases. "

MMR vaccination sessions have been arranged at GP surgeries in Llandudno over

the Easter holidays in a bid to ensure all children in the area have received

two doses of the jab.

And parents of children under 16 in Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire, who have

not had two doses of MMR, will receive letters inviting them to be vaccinated.

There are not thought to be any links between the outbreaks in North and West

Wales.

Dr Mac Walapu, a consultant in communicable disease control for the NPHS, said:

" Measles is a highly contagious infectious disease and children who have not

been immunised are at risk.

" If your child is unwell and you suspect it is measles you should contact your

GP. Your child should not attend school or nursery for five days after the rash

starts.

" Measles can be prevented by use of the safe and highly effective MMR vaccine.

Parents can easily protect their children by having them immunised with the MMR

vaccine.

" After completing a two-dose course of MMR, 99% of children will be protected

against measles. "