Warning as cases of ‘extremely infectious’ childhood disease soar

Numbers of a once-common childhood illness have rocketed sparking a warning to doctors. Cases of measles had dropped so much following immunisation programmes that many medics will not have treated a single case.

Now doctors are being urged to “think measles” when treating children after a “devastating resurgence of virtually eliminated life-threatening diseases”. Leading children’s doctors said that many medics will have never come across the disease before and have launched an awareness campaign to help clinicians spot symptoms and remind them what to do if they diagnose a case.

For the first time in decades, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) has issued national guidance on the treatment of measles. The RCPCH has urged medics to use “every opportunity” to check a child’s vaccination status and offer the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) jab to those who have not had two doses.

Vaccination against the potentially fatal disease is at a 10-year low and the RCPCH said that outbreaks have already been seen in London, Wales and Leicester. The college said that the UK “is now seeing a devastating resurgence of virtually eliminated life-threatening diseases, such as measles” as it called for the Government to publish its “overdue” national vaccination strategy.

Dr Camilla Kingdon, RCPCH president, said: “Having to consider measles in our national guidance for the first time in decades is a disappointing but necessary move. Vaccination coverage for children under the age of five is now the lowest it has ever been in the past 10 years.

“We are already starting to see the effects of this with measles outbreaks occurring in London, Wales and Leicester. We now find ourselves once again asking the Government, where is the long-awaited vaccination strategy?

“The UK Government must acknowledge these low uptake figures and focus its attention on ensuring equal access to vaccinations across all regions and socioeconomic groups.” Earlier this year, the UK Health Security Agency warned that if MMR vaccination rates do not improve, London could see a measles outbreak with tens of thousands of cases.

Between January 1 and June 30 this year there were 128 laboratory confirmed measles cases in England – compared to 54 cases in the whole of 2022. The majority of cases were diagnosed in London.

Outside London, the risk of large measles outbreaks is low, the health body said. Figures from NHS digital show that in 2022/23 some 92.5% of five-year-old children had received the first dose of the MMR jab – the lowest level since 2010/11.

And only 84.5% of five-year-olds had received two doses, the lowest proportion since 2010/11.

Symptoms of measles

These include:

aching and feeling unwell;

high fever;

rash – sometimes starting behind the ears;

sore red eyes;

cough;

runny nose.