Parents warned of measles, mumps and rubella outbreaks in Croydon

We must all "work together" to fight an outbreak of measles, mumps and rubella in Croydon.

This is the message from the council's director of public health at a meeting this week.

The three highly contagious diseases are thought to be spread in part because only 67% of five-year-olds in Croydon received both doses of the MMR vaccine in 2017/18.

It's almost the lowest rate in London, just above Merton, where it's 66.7%.

This is well below the recommendations of the World Health Organization.

& # 39; A 95% vaccination rate is needed & # 39;

WHO states that a 95% vaccination participation rate, with two doses of MMR at five years, is required to achieve "solid immunity", which means that a virus can not be transmitted within of a community.

At a meeting of the Croydon Clinical Commissioning Group (CGC) governing body at the Croydon Conference Center on Tuesday, June 4, Croydon Public Health Director Rachel Flowers said, "We all need to have a mandate for immunization and health improvement.

"The only way to get effective immunity is that we all have to do our part.General practitioners and primary health networks play a very important role."

She recommended nominating people to each organization to ensure that vaccination is taking place.

Until last May, Public Health England (PHE) had confirmed 12 cases of mumps, five measles and one rubella case in the region.

More than 40 confirmed cases last year

Last year, there was a measles outbreak in Croydon with more than 40 confirmed cases between January and August. This resulted in illness, including hospitalization in some cases.

And last month, Croydon City Council announced its intention to limit the increase in the number of three highly contagious – but preventable – diseases by ensuring that more residents are vaccinated.

With PHE and the local NHS, a plan of action against measles and rubella is being developed.

It should include recommendations on how to improve MMR vaccine uptake in the normal vaccination schedule for children, as well as for children and adults who have not been vaccinated and who need catch-up vaccines. .

What is the MMR vaccine?

According to the NHS, measles, mumps and rubella are highly infectious diseases.

They can have serious life-threatening complications, including meningitis, swelling of the brain (encephalitis) and deafness.

And all three diseases can cause serious complications for pregnant women, which can affect the baby or even cause miscarriage.

The MMR vaccine is usually given to babies as part of their routine immunization program at the age of one year.

A second injection of the vaccine is given before the start of studies, usually at 3 years and 4 months.