More Measles

A letter recieved from Health Protection at NHS Devon a couple of weeks ago.
As far as I am aware we have not seen any cases of measles recently.
The majority of cases were in the under 30 age group.
The European vaccination website euvac suggests that 18% of measles cases in France were hospitalised. There has so far though been only one death which seems an unusually low number for such an outbreak.


"MMR and measles outbreaks


This is to you alert you that France is currently experiencing a large outbreak of measles with over 3,700
cases confirmed so far this year. Outbreaks have also been reported in countries bordering France and in
other parts of Europe. http://www.euvac.net/graphics/euvac/pdf/2011_jan_feb.pdf


There has been a much smaller increase in confirmed cases of measles in the United Kingdom during the
past month and the vast majority of cases have occurred in people who have not been immunised with most
relating to older children attending secondary school, university students and in adults. Many of these cases
have links to those in France.


In light of this information, we are asking practices to consider the following:


1. Immunise those children who present to your practice and have not received two doses of the MMR
vaccine


2. If a patient presents with a history consistent with the signs and symptoms of measles and you are
aware that they have recently been travelling, please take salivary samples for analysis to confirm
whether or not they have measles


Measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine


Immunisation with MMR vaccine is the safest way that parents can protect their children against measles,
mumps and rubella which are diseases that can have serious consequences for babies, young children and
their families. Not all people respond adequately to a single dose of vaccine, so to ensure greater protection,
people need to receive two doses of MMR. Two doses of measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine offer full
protection against the three illnesses, provided the first dose is given from 12 months of age."