A California measles outbreak that has been traced back to Disneyland in Anaheim is prompting concern over the growing trend among some parents to avoid immunising their children against infectious diseases.
The leading US paediatrician group has urged parents, schools and communities to vaccinate children against measles in the face of an outbreak that began at Disneyland in California in December and has spread to more than 80 people in seven US states and Mexico.
Source: http://www.rte.ie/news/2015/0124/675295-measles-vaccine/
Measles is a highly infectious disease, 1 in 20 will get pneumonia, 1 in a 1000 will get encephalitis and between 1-2 in a 1000 will die from the disease. To be protected you either need to have received the MMR vaccine or to have had the disease. There is no other way to prevent measles infection.
Here in Ireland there has been in increase in the number of cases of mumps. Most of the cases are in young adults under 35.
Mumps is a viral illness that is spread by close contact with an infected person and causes fever and swollen glands under the jaw. It can also cause meningitis, deafness and inflammation of the pancreas or testicles.
Vaccination with MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) protects against Measles, Mumps and Rubella.
Two doses of MMR are recommended; the first at 12 months of age, which is given by a GP, and the second at 4 – 5 years of age, which is usually given in schools by the HSE School’s Immunisation Team. Parents should check their child’s immunisation records and determine if they have received two doses of MMR. If no records are available then the child should be brought to the GP for vaccination. All children/teenagers who have not received two doses of MMR vaccine can receive MMR vaccine from their GP. MMR given to a child within 72 hours of exposure to measles may prevent measles.
Source: www.hse.ie
More information on measles and MMR vaccine is available at www.immunisation.ie and www.hpsc.ie
Any person who has not had (or is not sure if they have had) two doses of MMR vaccine should contact their GP to be vaccinated as soon as possible