Advice relating to measles outbreak
There is currently an outbreak of measles in Liverpool with 16 confirmed cases to date. The outbreak has links with the Romanian community in Liverpool and with travel to Romania. In Greater Manchester there have been four confirmed cases in the past month; two are in unvaccinated children from local Romanian communities (one in Oldham).
There are currently several large measles outbreaks across Europe, with Romania, Italy, Germany and Greece being the worst affected countries; and there is a continued risk of imported cases highlighting the need to maximise efforts to achieve a 95% uptake of two doses of MMR to prevent spread.
To prevent an outbreak in Manchester, Public Health England has advised health practitioners to actively target and encourage the uptake of the MMR vaccination in our Romanian community; we know it is below the 95% uptake level in this community.
Health partners are working with other Manchester partners to identify the parts of the city most at risk and are planning ways to improve the uptake of the MMR vaccination.
Work includes raising awareness of vaccination and the signs and symptoms of measles; as well as offering vaccination in some identified key schools with Roma or Romanina students (with zero uptake of MMR vaccination) and primary care in the affected areas.
For more information about measles visit the website www.nhs.uk/conditions/measles/
Below are posters and leaflets practitioners can share with families:
