Sreemoyee Chatterjee
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Written By: Sreemoyee Chatterjee | Published : August 21, 2018 9:36 AM IST
A wave of panic has struck Bristol in South-West of England with 40 times higher number of confirmed cases of Measles this year since the month of May. An alert has been issued regarding widespread Measles outbreak and the parents have been warned to get their children vaccinated against the infection. While there were only 2 confirmed cases of Measles in Bristol last year in the same period, this year, a whopping number of 86 confirmed cases have been reported in Bristol by the Public Health England (PHE) and 20 more cases are being investigated.
According to recent media coverage, PHE has alerted the parents about getting their children two doses of the MMR vaccine that safeguards against Mumps, Measles and Rubella. Experts say that prevention is better than cure and once infected with Measles and kept untreated, the viral infection can be life-claiming and severe. Around 14 people have been hospitalised in the South West since January after being hit with Measles, states the media report. The same report highlights that several schools had to shut down last month due to major outbreak of the viral infection and several confirmed Measles cases in their classrooms.
The month of May and June have been worst hit with 27 and 26 confirmed cases of Measles respectively in Bristol. July has seen 15 confirmed cases, followed by March with 9 of them and April with 7 such cases. According to experts, MMR vaccine is given to children twice, once within a month of their first birthday and another after they complete 3 years 4 months.
Dominic Mellon, consultant in Communicable Disease Control for Public Health England South West, reportedly said: "Unfortunately, we know that the school environment provides a perfect place for infections to circulate and spread. This is why we are asking parents to add the MMR vaccine to their back to school lists. If your child catches measles, apart from feeling very unwell they will also miss out on several days at school.
"We know life can get busy with children. If you can't remember, just contact your GP who will be able to check your child's records. If they have missed a dose, a catch-up vaccine can easily be arranged by contacting your GP," he added.
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