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Fears of measles new outbreak
HEALTH experts are urging Doncaster parents to take their children for both MMR vaccinations as the borough gears up for another measles outbreak.
Six local children are believed to have contracted measles in the past month – four cases have been confirmed and two are awaiting the results of tests - but more may yet emerge as the virus is highly contagious.
Health chiefs are worried by latest figures, which reveal that nearly 20 per cent of Doncaster's under two-year-olds are not fully protected against MMR - measles, mumps and rubella.
In 2007, 26 Doncaster people caught the potentially deadly virus and there were 39 cases in 2006. Yet in both 2004 and 2005 no cases were reported in the borough.
Falling immunisation rates are being blamed for the revival of illnesses like measles, which just a few years ago were starting to become rare.
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."
Figures show the number of Doncaster 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 that 95 per cent of children need to be vaccinated to protect everyone in the community.
The vaccine 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 as research shows 10 per cent of people receiving the first dose of the MMR vaccine do not have the right level of protection.
Dr Rupert Suckling, deputy director of public health at Doncaster Primary Care Trust, said: "Measles is a serious illness and can 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. 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."
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Weather for Doncaster
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: East
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Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
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