Children at risk of measles outbreak (From Western Telegraph)

Children at risk of measles outbreak

HEALTH experts predict a serious measles outbreak in Pembrokeshire as the number of parents refusing the MMR vaccine surges to a record level.

Just 83.1% of the countys children had the measles, mumps and rubella inoculation last year compared to 85.6% the previous year. It comes amid unproven evidence linking it to autism and bowel disease.

Dr Mac Walapu, public health consultant for Dyfed Powys Health Authority, says an uptake of 95% is essential to avoid outbreaks of these diseases. We expect there to be an outbreak of measles at some point in the future. We dont know when it will be but it will be very sudden when it does happen, he warns.

Pembrokeshire has the second lowest take-up rate of the first dose of the MMR vaccine in Dyfed Powys. The lowest is Carmarthenshire where the level is 78.9%. In Ceredigion 86.3% of children are vaccinated compared to the all-Wales figure of 84.5%.

Dr Walapu insists that recent evidence pointed to measles outbreaks occurring where uptake of the vaccine is low. Pembrokeshire is now at risk from the disease, he warns.

Measles can be a very serious illness in children and in its worst forms can lead to chest infections, eye infections, deafness, blindness, brain damage or even death, he says.

Rubella infections in pregnant mums can affect the unborn child, so high uptake rates are particularly important in young growing families.

But his opinion is not shared by the dozens of families who have shunned the vaccine. Charlotte Cortazzi, mother of Ryan, aged six, and Maya, aged four, has rejected all their childhood vaccinations.

She is currently studying homeopathy and has just written a paper on the subject.

It is important for everyone to make an individual, informed choice looking at all sides of the issue and if possible to ignore any arguments which have their basis in fear, says Charlotte, who lives near Stackpole. I looked into all the issues and made the decision not to have my two children vaccinated.

She argues that vaccination is an unreliable means of preventing disease and challenges whether vaccines have had any impact on the decline in infectious diseases.

She urged parents who had yet to make their decision to contact The Informed Parent, a group established in 1992 to give support and information about vaccination, on 0208 8611022.

Mother-of-three Tracey Miller represents a majority who have opted for the vaccine. All her children - Lowri, aged 12, Rhys, aged seven, and Gareth, aged five - have had the MMR.

Although there was significant negative publicity at the time when Gareth was vaccinated, she was impressed with the information she was given by her GP at the Castlegate Surgery, Pembroke.

The issue is a worrying one but I am confident that I made the right decision. I wasnt prepared to put my children at risk of developing measles, says Tracey, of The Orchard, Hundleton.

These children are happy not to be at risk in the event of a Measles outbreak. They are among the 83% of children in Pembrokeshire who have had the MMR vaccination. Their mother, Tracey Miller of Hundleton, has no regrets about having her three children, Lowri, Rhys and Gareth, immunised.

PICTURE: Western Telegraph