Children’s hospital inundated with measles cases

Health chiefs say they have seen the highest number of cases in decades

Birmingham Children’s Hospital has been inundated with the highest number in decades of youngsters with measles, health officials say.

Within the past month, there have been more than 50 children in need of treatment, the highest it has seen in years.

It comes as UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) figures show the West Midlands had at least 167 laboratory confirmed cases with a further 88 likely cases.

A very low vaccination rate in some neighbourhoods across the region has been attributed to the rise.

Dr Neil Bugg says this time last year the hospital treated no measles cases

The UKHSA has confirmed the West Midlands has seen the largest outbreak of the infection in the country outside of London.

Across Europe, up to October last year there were 30,000 confirmed cases whereas the previous year there were just 941.

Around 80% of cases have been seen in Birmingham, with about 10% in Coventry, with other local authority areas seeing a rise in cases.

One school, the Frederick Bird Academy, in Coventry, has been holding measles vaccination clinics after two pupils were taken to hospital with the disease.

Parts of Birmingham and the Black Country have among the lowest vaccination rates in the UK.

Dr Naveed Syed a consultant in health protection for UKHSA believes “fake news” and fears surrounding vaccination prompted by the coronavirus are behind the reluctance to have the two-dose measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) jab.

The use of pork gelatine in some vaccines has put off others - but an alternative that does not include this is widely offered across the West Midlands.

'So contagious'

The main symptoms of measles include a high fever, sore and red watery eyes, coughing, sneezing and a rash that usually appears after initial symptoms.

“In a typical winter we would see no cases of measles at all,” Dr Neil Bugg, deputy medical director at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, said.

He added: “It’s because it’s so contagious, if you put a child with measles in a room with 10 unvaccinated people, nine of them would catch it.”

Among children under the age of five, the infection appears to be spreading the fastest, with 40% of those who test positive requiring hospital care.

Dr Naveed Syed says fake news has made people reluctant to have the MMR vaccine

Dr Naveed Syad said that with the rise in cases coming in the wake of the pandemic, which "has stirred up a lot if issues".

“Some of it goes back to the now debunked claims between MMR and autism, which isn't there," he said.

“Some of the communities are still holding onto that sort of fake news around that.

"It's a challenge to try and overturn some of those myths, which have become more embedded in some communities.”

Measles vaccinations were introduced in the UK in 1968 and are estimated to have prevented 20 million cases and 4,500 deaths.

The MMR jab, itself introduced nearly 30 years ago, is part of the routine NHS schedule of childhood vaccines. It is given in two doses, the first before age two and the second before age five.