What is measles and how does it spread after child dies in Alder Hey
On July 13, Alder Hey Children's Hospital shared the tragic news that a child had died after contracting measles, marking the second death due to an acute measles infection in Britain this decade. The identity of the child has not been disclosed, but it is known that they were suffering from measles and are believed to have had other health complications.
This comes just days after parents described feeling "scared" as several children in Merseyside were hospitalised due to the spread of the measles virus. Hospital officials said these children were "seriously unwell."
READ MORE: Child with measles dies in Alder Hey as health officials fear outbreak
READ MORE: Alder Hey's plea after child dies with measles
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says that the "measles vaccination averted more than 60 million deaths between 2000 and 2023. Even though a safe and cost-effective vaccine is available, in 2023, there were an estimated 107,500 measles deaths globally, mostly among unvaccinated or under vaccinated children under the age of 5 years.
The proportion of children receiving a first dose of measles vaccine was 83% in 2023, well below the 2019 level of 86%. WHO adds: "The COVID-19 pandemic led to setbacks in surveillance and immunization efforts.
"The suspension of immunization services and declines in immunization rates and surveillance across the globe left millions of children vulnerable to preventable diseases like measles."
Measles usually starts with cold-like symptoms, followed by a rash a few days later. Some people may also get small spots in their mouth.
The first symptoms of measles include:
a high temperature
a runny or blocked nose
sneezing
a cough
red, sore, watery eyes
Other symptoms are small white spots may appear inside the cheeks and on the back of the lips a few days later. These spots usually last a few days. A rash usually appears a few days after the cold-like symptoms. The rash starts on the face and behind the ears before spreading to the rest of the body.
Measles is spread when an infected person breathes, coughs or sneezes. You're infectious from when you first have symptoms (around four days before the rash appears) until four days after you get the rash.
There are things you can do to reduce the risk of spreading or catching measles. This includes washing your hands, using tissues when coughing or sneezing then throw your tissues in the bin.
The MMR vaccine can prevent measles. It also protects you from mumps and rubella. The MMR vaccine is offered to all children in the UK. 2 doses can give lifelong protection against measles, mumps, and rubella.
Ask at your GP surgery if you're not sure you or your child have had the vaccine. They can give it for free on the NHS.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Physician associates ‘should be banned from seeing patients without review'
Physician associates (PAs) should be banned from seeing patients who have not been reviewed by a medic to prevent the risk of 'catastrophic' misdiagnoses, a Government-ordered report has found. The study suggests a major change to the role of PAs after it acknowledged they have been used as substitutes for doctors, despite having significantly less training. More than 3,500 PAs and 100 anaesthesia associates (AAs) are working in the NHS and there have been previous calls for an expansion in their number. But a general lack of support for the roles from the medical profession – plus high-profile deaths of patients who were misdiagnosed by PAs – led Health Secretary Wes Streeting to order a review. Presenting her findings, Professor Gillian Leng, president of the Royal Society of Medicine, said: 'Crucially I'm recommending that PAs should not see undifferentiated or untriaged patients. 'If (patients) are triaged, they (PAs) should be able to see adult patients with minor ailments in line with relevant guidance from the Royal College of GPs.' She said more detail was needed on which patients can be seen by PAs and national clinical protocols should be developed in this area. She added: 'Let's be clear, (the role of PAs) is working well in some places, but there indeed has been some substitution and any substitution is clearly risky and confusing for patients.' Prof Leng also recommended PAs should be renamed 'physician assistants' to position them 'as a supportive, complementary member of the medical team', while AAs should be renamed 'physician assistants in anaesthesia'. Newly qualified PAs should also work in hospitals for two years before they are allowed to work in GP surgeries or mental health trusts. The study said safety concerns in relation to PAs were 'almost always about making a diagnosis and deciding the initial treatment, particularly in primary care or the emergency department, where patients first present with new symptoms.' It added: 'It is here that the risk of missing an unusual disease or condition is highest, and where the more extensive training of doctors across a breadth of specialties is important. 'Making the wrong initial diagnosis and putting patients on an inappropriate pathway can be catastrophic.' Despite the shorter two years of training for PAs, where local NHS services have struggled with filling roles, 'the easy option in some cases was simply to fill gaps in medical rotas with PAs', the report went on. 'This seems to have been done without taking into account the more limited training of the PAs and how the roles would interact, other than with the caveat that they would be supervised by doctors. 'This lack of planning may have been responsible for driving the resentment felt by some resident (doctors) and potentially exposed patients to unnecessary risk.' The study noted concerns in the medical profession about the impact on training and employment of resident doctors when PAs take on tasks. When it comes to the safety of PAs and AAs, Prof Leng said the 'evidence is poor', with 'no compelling evidence' in published research 'that PAs were safe to work as doctor substitutes in primary care'. She also said the evidence was poor when it came to cost effectiveness. The report said that while research suggests patients are satisfied after seeing a PA, some did not know they were not seeing a doctor. Many doctors also told the review they were concerned about the time required to supervise PAs and AAs and the lack of training for supervisors about the role of PAs. A survey conducted for the report found 'relatively few doctors felt it was appropriate for PAs to diagnose illness', with only 29% of those working with PAs in primary care backing this, and 14% in secondary care. The survey also found 'marked differences in which tasks were considered appropriate in primary and secondary care, with PAs significantly more likely than doctors to believe that certain activities were appropriate for them to carry out'. When it came to AAs, there were also questions over whether the role was actually needed as fully qualified anaesthetists already face tough competition to find a job. Prof Leng concluded there were 'no convincing reasons to abolish the roles of AA or PA' but there is also no case 'for continuing with the roles unchanged'. She recommended that both PAs and AAs should have the opportunity for ongoing training and development, with potential to prescribe medicines in the future, and they should also should have the opportunity to become an 'advanced' PA or AA. A named doctor should take overall responsibility for each PA, while clothing, lanyards, badges and staff information should be standardised to 'distinguish physician assistants from doctors'. Six patient deaths linked to contact with PAs have been recorded by coroners in England. One high-profile death involved Emily Chesterton, 30, who died from a pulmonary embolism. She was misdiagnosed by a PA on two occasions and told she had anxiety. Unison head of health, Helga Pile, said: 'By working closely with doctors and other healthcare professionals, these roles can make a real difference to the improvement of services and reduction of waiting lists. 'Clearer identification of physician associates and anaesthesia associates will give patients a greater understanding of who's delivering their care and what they can expect. ' Dr Tom Dolphin, chair of BMA council, said the review 'laid bare the catastrophic failures in NHS leadership that have put patients at serious risk of harm' but said its recommendations 'do not adequately protect patients'. He added: 'Despite correctly recommending that assistants shouldn't be the first person seeing patients coming straight through the doors in GP practices or in A&E, the report then contradicts itself by saying that PAs can act as a first point of contact in primary care for minor and common conditions. 'It is not clear how these two recommendations can coexist, and this must be urgently clarified. Minor complaints are only minor in retrospect and serious conditions can present in subtle or unusual ways. 'No doubt doctors will look back at this report as a moment when historic failures could have been addressed and patients finally protected – but sadly will see this as an inadequate response to what is a patient safety scandal.'
5 hours ago
More than 14M children globally have not received a dose of any vaccine: WHO
More than 14 million children around the world have not received a single dose of any vaccine, according to new data from the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF. This is 4 million more children than the 2024 target set by the WHO and 1.4 million more children than in 2019, which is the baseline year for measuring progress. About 25% of the world's infants live in 26 countries that are affected by conflict, fragility or humanitarian crises, but they make up half of all unvaccinated children, according to the global health agency. Children are unvaccinated or under-vaccinated for many reasons including lack of access, disrupted supply, conflict and instability, or misinformation about vaccines. "Stalling of vaccine coverage, even the smallest drops in immunization coverage as measured at the country level, can have devastating consequences," Dr. Kate O'Brien, director of the WHO's Department of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals, said during a press briefing on Monday. "It opens the door to deadly disease outbreaks and puts even more pressure on health systems that are already stretched. Immunization Agenda 2030 targets are in reach to protect more children [with] life-saving vaccines." Immunization Agenda 2030 is in reference to a series of goals put forth by the World Health Assembly to address challenges in improving access. However, there were some bright spots in the report. In 2024, 89% of infants globally, equivalent to about 115 million, received at least one dose of the diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP)-containing vaccine, and 85%, roughly 109 million, completed all three doses. By comparison, in 2023, about 171,000 more children received at least one vaccine and one million more children received the three doses. Protection against measles also improved, with 84% of children receiving the first dose and 76% receiving the second dose. While these are slight increases from the previous year, it means 30 million children are unprotected, especially as the world faces an increasing number of outbreaks. "The good news is that we have managed to reach more children with life-saving vaccines. But millions of children remain without protection against preventable diseases, and that should worry us all," Catherine Russell, executive director of UNICEF, said in a statement. "We must act now with determination to overcome barriers like shrinking health budgets, fragile health systems along with misinformation and access constraints because of conflicts. No child should die from a disease we know how to prevent," Russell said. The release of the data came just a few weeks after Health and Human Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the U.S. was pulling its funding from GAVI, an international organization that works to improve access to vaccines, claiming the organization "ignored the science." Kennedy claimed in a video posted online that the U.S. had provided $8 billion in funding to GAVI since 2001. Public health officials called on governments around the world to help fill the gaps in funding, although the U.S. withholding funds was not explicitly stated. "It is really, really important that maintaining these coverage trends, which are quite easily fragile unless efforts are sustained," Dr. Ephrem Lemango, associate director for health and global chief of immunization at UNICEF, said during Monday's press briefing. "It is important that we maintain our commitment to immunization, and we're calling on governments and partners and communities to do all that is necessary to maintain immunization coverage, including closing the funding gaps, serving communities in conflict and fragile settings, and addressing misinformation," Lemango said.
Black America Web
6 hours ago
- Black America Web
Tamar Braxton & Gilead Partner For PrEP Promo To Black Women
Getty Images for ESSENCE Tamar Braxton has always been one to use her voice for good — good music, that is! — and now she's getting even louder with a new partnership alongside Gilead Sciences that will aim to promote HIV prevention like PrEP specifically to Black women. The big news was revealed this past weekend during Essence Festival 2025, where Tamar sat on the 'Safe & Sexy' panel for those who were able to visit the Global Black Economic Forum stage. RELATED: FDA Approves First And Only Twice-Yearly PrEP Option 'I'm all about dating with confidence,' she shared with guests on her reasoning behind the Gilead union, going on further add, 'Black women have stopped talking about HIV, and it needs to be part of our conversation again.' This comes not too long after Tamar went viral earlier this year for revealing that she herself takes PrEP, at the time sharing the news in a video posted to social media (seen below) where she blamed the current dating pool and its lack of options for, in her words, 'not being for the outside.' For Gilead, the partnership comes with perfect timing following The World Health Organization officially recommending its twice-yearly PrEP injection, lenacapavir, in the global fight against HIV infection. More details below, via Reuters : 'The recommendation, issued at the International AIDS Conference in Kigali, Rwanda, comes nearly a month after the U.S. health regulator approved the drug, giving patients new hope of interrupting virus transmission. The twice-yearly injectable offers a long-acting alternative to daily oral pills and other shorter-acting options, reshaping the response to the disease especially among those who face challenges with daily adherence, stigma, or access to health care. 'While an HIV vaccine remains elusive, lenacapavir is the next best thing,' said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. The WHO's recommendations come at a critical moment as HIV prevention efforts stagnate with 1.3 million new HIV infections occurring in 2024 as funding challenges, stigma around the disease persist.' As we all should know by now, HIV has affected the Black community at a disproportionate rate compared to other race groups since the epidemic first began decades ago. As a result, we should be doing everything in our power to change those statistics and hopefully rid them altogether. Shoutout to Tamar for using her platform to spread some news that can save a life. You can visit HealthySexuals to get educated on PrEP medications and other honest conversations. SEE ALSO
