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Sky News
a day ago
- Health
- Sky News
Renae died from a rare brain disease after getting measles as a baby. Now, her mother wants more children to get vaccines
The mother of a 10-year-old girl who died from complications of measles has urged parents to have their children vaccinated amid a surge of cases. Renae Archer was too young to have the MMR vaccine when she caught the infection at just five months old. A decade later, she was diagnosed with subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, a very rare brain disease. She died in 2023. Her mother Becky believes Renae might not have caught measles if more people had inoculated their children. The warning comes as rates of vaccine uptake continue to fall. The recent death of a child with measles at Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool put the focus on a surge of cases in a city with low levels of vaccination. It has left communities with rates of vaccination below the 95% level seen to provide herd immunity, where enough people are protected to prevent the virus spreading. Becky Archer said: "It does make me quite sad and angry because they are potentially putting their children at risk. "We just want people to open their eyes to someone that's actually been through it and not the nonsense that's being spread out on social media or on telly. "I just want people to be knowledgeable of how serious a situation can be." The latest figures on childhood vaccination show that coverage in the UK has been falling in recent years and is now below that target of 95% for all vaccines by age five. The vaccination rate for England is lower than in other UK nations, and particularly low in London. Just 60% in Hackney have had their full measles vaccination course by their fifth birthday, compared to 89.2% on average across Scotland - though the rate in Scotland has also fallen from 93% a decade earlier. Outside of London, the North West now has among the lowest vaccination rates for most of the main childhood vaccines. Liverpool has the lowest measles vaccination rate outside of London, with more than a quarter of children not completing a full MMR vaccination course by their fifth birthday, according to the latest NHS figures for 2023/24. Seventeen cases of measles have been recorded at Alder Hey in recent weeks, and doctors are reassuring parents that the vaccine is safe, free and available. The hospital's chief nurse Nathan Askew said: "Measles is often thought of as just a routine childhood illness but actually it's incredibly contagious. "The problem is that when that's passed on, particularly in schools, nurseries and other environments where children are close together, there's a real problem with children becoming unwell." Low immunisation rates have been blamed on vaccine hesitancy among parents, but experts say a lack of information on the importance and availability of vaccines is also a significant factor. At a catch-up clinic in Liverpool, parents including Natalia Figeuroa have been bringing their children in. She admits she lost track of her son's vaccinations, but worries that parents are being confused. "I think parents are trying to make the right decision but the misinformation that's out there is overclouding their judgement," she said. "My child attends a specialist provision which is a school that carries many children with disabilities, physically and mentally, and it's really hard to see that those kids could be exposed to an illness that is quite preventable with a vaccine. "I'm hoping parents will start to think not only about their own children but those other children who cannot get vaccinations for numerous reasons." Becky Archer was due to give birth the day she was told that Renae's condition was fatal. She died a few days later, and her mother believes she would want her story told. "She was really caring person and she wouldn't have wanted any other family to go through losing their child," she said.
Daily Mail
18-07-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Schoolgirl, 10, has three limbs amputated after bruise 'many parents wouldn't suspect as unusual' turned out to be killer disease
A schoolgirl lost both her legs and her right arm after suffering severe complications from meningitis—and her only visible symptom was a 'bruise'. Within 24 hours of telling her parents that she didn't feel well, Penelope Vidal-Walsh, 10, had undergone life-saving emergency surgery at Alder Hey Hospital remove her limbs. On April 10, Penelope—who was feeling under the weather—went to bed as usual at around 9pm, only to wake up at 2am and begin vomiting. The Liverpool Echo reports that her father, Ricardo Vidal, put her in the bath, 'checked her over' saw nothing of any concern, and put her back to bed. The next morning, she got up as usual but was sick again after breakfast, prompting her parents to run her another bath. While in the bath, they noticed a small purple mark on her neck, and later, while dressing her, a similarly coloured rash on her knee. Penelope's aunt, Angel Walsh, 35, told the ECHO that her parents used 'the glass test' to assess if the rash was cause for concern, as recommended by the NHS. It involves pressing a glass against a rash to see if it disappears under pressure—if it doesn't, it could be a sign of a serious infection such as meningitis or septicaemia which needs immediate medical attention. Because the rash didn't disappear, Penelope was immediately taken straight to Ormskirk Hospital. By 9.30am she had been transferred to Alder Hey where she was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis and was rushed to intensive care. She not only had meningitis but also a 'very rare fungal infection which caused severe complications'. Mr Vidal said: 'As part of her treatment Penelope underwent a triple amputation surgery, which resulted in her losing her lower limbs and her right arm. 'She is currently undergoing skin grafting surgery as part of her rehabilitation and recovery. 'She has made huge progress and improvement and is even using a wheelchair and building up her core strength as well as the strength in her left arm.' Penelope will remain in the critical care unit of Alder Hey until she undergoes skin grafting surgery. If the procedures are successful she will be discharged in October, six months after initally falling ill. Her parents have launched a fundraiser to try and provide her with the 'best possible chance of living an independent life.' Mr Vidal said: 'We want her to be able to not let this deter her from being the most energetic, fun, lively girl that she always has been. 'She remains determined and motivated to keep building her strength. 'The strength and resilience she shows us every day is just incredible and we are just so proud of her. 'We want to give her the best quality life and opportunities to fulfil any of her dreams and hopes that she had before this occurred.' Meningitis is inflammation of the membranes that surround and protect the brain and spinal cord. Anyone can be affected but at-risk people include those aged under five, 15-to-24 and over 45. People exposed to passive smoking or with suppressed immune systems, such as patients undergoing chemotherapy, are also more at risk. The most common forms of meningitis are bacterial and viral, but the former requires urgent treatment at hospital with antibiotics. Some 10 per cent of bacterial cases are fatal, and of those who survive, one in three suffer complications, including brain damage, hearing loss and limb amputation is a if septicaemia (blood poisoning) occurs.
The Guardian
17-07-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Thursday briefing: Misinformation, access and cuts – the UK's measles surge explained
Good morning. Not too long ago, the UK was really good at beating measls. In 2017, the World Health Organisation declared that the the disease had been eliminated for the first time in the UK, after no indigenous cases had been recorded in three years. Now, measles is back. Already this year there have been more than 500 confirmed cases in England, the majority in young children. On Sunday it was announced that a child who contracted measles had died at Liverpool's Alder Hey hospital, which had seen an additional 17 cases since the beginning of June. What makes this case more tragic is that healthcare professionals say no child should lose its life to this disease in the UK. The MMR vaccine, offered to all children in the UK, gives 97% protection against becoming infected with measles, mumps and rubella. Yet as measles cases not just in the UK but across the world see a surge, vaccination rates are plunging. Much of the blame has fallen on anti-vax conspiracy theories, which rehash the debunked links between the MMR vaccine and autism and tell parents that vaccines are akin to injecting their children with poison. But according to healthcare professionals, many other factors are also at play, and dealing with the complex reasons why parents aren't getting their children the jab is becoming increasingly urgent. For today's newsletter I talked to Dr Elizabeth Whittaker, the clinical lead for paediatric infectious diseases at Imperial College healthcare NHS trust, about why vaccine levels are falling and what can be done to reverse this decline. Middle East crisis | At least 20 Palestinians have been killed in a crush at a food distribution site in southern Gaza run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, after guards used teargas or pepper spray on hungry crowds arriving at the centre. UK politics | Conservative former ministers have 'serious questions to answer' over the secret scheme to resettle Afghan nationals named in a data breach under the previous government, Keir Starmer has said. Labour | Four Labour MPs have had the whip removed for repeatedly breaching discipline, with three others demoted, in an effort to assert control over the party. The Guardian understands that the four are Rachael Maskell, Neil Duncan-Jordan, Brian Leishman and Chris Hinchliff. US politics | Donald Trump has dismissed a secretive inquiry into the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as 'boring' and of interest only to 'bad people', but said he backed the release of any 'credible' files. UK news | The Prevent anti-terrorism scheme missed chances to protect the public from the attacker who assassinated the MP Sir David Amess, and from the youth who murdered three young girls at a Southport dance class, an official report has found. Just a few decades ago, the likelihood of a child dying from measles in a UK hospital would have seemed remote, if not almost impossible. Yet Dr Elizabeth Whittaker said that the disease's resurgence has almost been a foregone conclusion as vaccination rates have steadily fallen over the past 10 years. To ensure herd immunity against measles, where enough people are protected to prevent the virus spreading, vaccination rates must hit 95%. The current rate across England is 84%. 'Measles has never been eradicated in any part of the world and if a country drops below that 95% herd immunity threshold then the disease will return,' said Whittaker. 'I think a huge part of the problem is that we have been so good at preventing measles, none of us really have any lived experience of understanding how devastating these infections can be.' How fast is measles spreading in the UK? According to NHS data, there have been 529 confirmed cases in England so far this year, with 68% occurring in children under the age of 10. The disease is highly infectious and airborne. In the past few years, outbreaks have occurred around the country, with the West Midlands experiencing cases at their highest level since the mid-1990s. The uptick in measles cases comes as no surprise to infectious disease experts such as Whittaker, considering that figures from NHS England show that 3.4 million children under the age of 16 years have not been fully immunised with the MMR vaccine. The UK's rising measles rates are part of a global upward trend. Measles cases in the US and Europe are at their highest levels in 33 years and 25 years respectively. Why are parents not getting their children vaccinated? Whittaker said that while there has certainly been a barrage of misinformation and conspiracy theories around the MMR vaccine – and vaccines in general – in recent years, she believes that this is only part of the story. 'Of course there is some vaccine hesitancy out there, but the bigger lesson here – and it's a good one because this is much easier to tackle – is that access is a massive issue,' she said. She said a recent report from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) found that there was a reasonably good uptake in early childhood vaccines when women were on maternity leave and in close contact with healthcare professionals, but then this tailed off by the time children should be getting their first MMR jab at 12 months. This declined even further by the time the second jab was due at three to five years. 'It's things like parents working zero-hours contracts who can't afford the day off, or vaccines only being offered on certain times of the week, or a lack of transport or not being able to navigate the GP practice appointment system,' said Whittaker. 'So the key thing to tackle is increased flexibility on how, where and when these vaccines are being offered.' How have cuts to NHS services contributed? Another barrier to access is the way that information about the vaccine is being disseminated. 'Trusted individuals like midwives who are in contact with new mothers are replaced often by people who families don't know,' said Whittaker. 'Before you'd have a family doctor, now you see a different GP every time you go into the surgery. Health visitor resourcing is inadequate, so this means that trusted touch points between the health system and new parents have been lost.' Without access to the information and the vaccine, anti-vax messaging can move into this vacuum and become the dominant narrative. 'We've had parents reporting that they were never worried about vaccines, but that since all the doubt and conspiracy theories that took hold about the Covid vaccine, they're now questioning the credibility and safety of all vaccines, including the MMR,' said Whittaker. 'For a lot of women having a baby or being on your own with multiple small children is a very isolating experience and exposure to misinformation online isn't counteracted by contact with a trusted healthcare professional.' What can be done to reverse this? Whittaker said that there has to be an awareness that 'what works for us in north London may not work in Liverpool. We can make the systems as good as possible, but we need to provide solutions that are specific to the local population.' She points to a project she has recently visited in west London run in partnership with a local community group called Why Did Nobody Ask Us?, which attempts to work with parents from diverse backgrounds to understand the reasons underpinning slow vaccine take-up in their communities. 'We know Black African women have the lowest uptake of vaccines but nobody is really asking why,' she said. 'We need to listen to parents because their answers are probably the most crucial tool we have in tackling declining vaccination rates. Information has to be disseminated in as many ways and languages as possible.' Whittaker is also optimistic about other developments taking place, such as rolling out vaccination appointments and reminders through the NHS app. Yet what is clear is that there needs to be a massive and rapid investment into prioritising child health across the NHS. She sees the decline in vaccines as a manifestation of 'a real neglect of children's health across the board and it's something that has to change if we're going to reverse this trend'. What will happen if measles continues to spread? Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Whittaker said that if measles begins to spread and vaccinations levels continue to fall, the health system is likely to come under increasing strain. 'Measles comes with a huge health risk. Not only can children get really ill from the disease but they have a high risk of secondary bacterial infections,' she said. 'This all places a huge burden on an already overstretched system and means health care could be diverted from other children who desperately need it and comes at a significant economic cost.' Often the first time the hospitals come into contact with an infected child, 'they present with symptoms that aren't obviously measles and have sat in a waiting room and interacted with multiple other children and adults'. This means that when children do come back with all the visible signs of the disease, 'we then need to go back and contact trace everyone they might have been in contact with who could then be spreading infection through their community. It's a huge job and not one that we're currently prepared for.' She points out that this is a disease that could swiftly get out of hand if vaccination levels remain low. 'Unless we tackle this now, we've got a very big problem coming down the line.' This interview with Janet Street-Porter by the Guardian's Simon Hattenstone made me howl with laughter. A feature that shows them both at their best. Aamna As someone who remains traumatised by It, I'm not sure I'll make it through this whole list of the greatest Stephen King TV hits and misses but I'll certainly give some of these a go. Annie Trump's decision to launch a politically waged trade war against Brazil in defense of Jair Bolsonaro has spectacularly backfired, writes Tom Phillips. Aamna Very powerful reportage from Minatullah Alobaidi for the excellent New Lines magazine on the resurgence of Iraq's child brides as women's rights around the world continue to crumble. Annie If, like me, you're terrible at keeping up with life's admin, check out these useful tips from administrators. Aamna Cricket | Deepti Sharma tallied 62 as the tourists chased down their hosts, India winning by four wickets despite an error-strewn spell with the bat. 1st women's ODI: India, 262-6, beat England, 258-6, by four wickets. Golf | The R&A says it has held a 'really good discussion' with Donald Trump's family over the thorny issue of when their Turnberry course might stage the Open again. Cycling | In a chaotic climax to stage 11 of the Tour de France in Toulouse, Tadej Pogacar crashed at speed before remounting to finish, an anti-Israel protester ran on to the finish line, and the Norwegian Jonas Abrahamsen took his first Grand Tour stage win, for Uno-X. 'Four MPs lose Labour whip as PM attempts to reassert grip on party' is the Guardian's splash. The i paper has 'Reeves blamed for UK inflation hike, as NI rise hits food prices'. Top story in the Financial Times is 'Diageo chief stands down as falling alcohol sales take toll'. The Metro splashes on 'New Maxwell appeal bid as Trump flips'. 'Cabinet bid to halt Afghan airlift' – not now but when the Tories were in, the Telegraph reports. 'Afghan leak intelligence was hidden from MPs' says the Times. 'Thanks for saving us, now we'll sue you' – the Daily Mail is annoyed that Afghans put at risk of Taliban murder might seek compensation. 'Sue chef' – the Mirror says that's John Torode versus the BBC over his MasterChef ousting. 'They failed to provide what might have helped' – the Prevent anti-terror programme comes under fire in the Express over the Southport and David Ames murders. Why doctors are striking … again When Labour came to power it moved fast to end the public sector strikes. But now resident doctors are demanding a 29% rise in pay. Will they get it and will it put Labour's plans for the NHS at risk? Denis Campbell reports A bit of good news to remind you that the world's not all bad A new London art institution aimed at promoting global majority voices will open this coming October in Fitzrovia, central London. It will be a space for 'difficult, urgent questions' and a bastion for respectful debate without the 'aggression' seen in a lot of political discourse. Ibraaz began life as an online platform before its launch as a home for global majority art and artists at a 10,000-square-foot Grade II-listed site. Its first exhibition will be Ibrahim Mahama's long-running, evolving work Parliament of Ghosts, which also appeared at the Manchester international festival in 2019 and features discarded objects from Mahama's west African homeland of Ghana. The Otolith Collective will create a 'library-in-residence', while the east London booksellers Burley Fisher will run Ibraaz's bookshop, which the Palestine festival of literature will initially curate. There will also be a talks programme. Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday And finally, the Guardian's puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow. Quick crossword Cryptic crossword Wordiply
BBC News
16-07-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Measles vaccine push as case confirmed in Wirral
People in Wirral are being urged to make sure they are vaccinated against measles after it was confirmed a young child is ill with the first known case in the area this Sunday a child died at Liverpool's Alder Hey Hospital after contracting the authorities across Merseyside are now encouraging people to make sure their children have received both doses of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) director of public health Dave Bradburn said work was taking place to limit the potential spread of the virus after the new case was identified. "There has been an increase across Cheshire and Merseyside over the last few months," he said."This is the first case that we have been notified of in Wirral this year."Measles is a highly contagious disease which is spread by coughs and Bradburn encouraged parents to be aware of symptoms include high fever; sore, red and watery eyes; coughing; and white spots may also appear inside the mouth.A blotchy red or brown rash usually appears after a few days, typically on the face and behind the ears, before spreading. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.
BBC News
02-07-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Alder Hey opens clinic for children's ketamine abuse
A children's hospital has launched a clinic to treat young people who are taking the street drug ketamine. Alder Hey hospital in Liverpool is thought to be the first in the country to run a programme aimed specifically at minors. Senior consultants at the hospital told the BBC it was believed Merseyside had a bigger problem with the drug than other areas. In April, Liverpool council wrote to the government demanding the substance - a sedative that can have hallucinatory effects and also cause serious health problems - be reclassified as a Class A drug like heroin or cocaine. The clinic began running at the hospital in May, and a second clinic later this week has had to be expanded due to the number of referrals, Ms Corbett said."We've talked to other paediatrics across the country, and, to our knowledge, nobody is seeing anyone under the age of 16 yet, but yet is the important word," paediatric consultant Harriet Corbett she told BBC Radio Merseyside. 'Huge favour' Ms Corbett added: "I think there genuinely is a bigger problem here (Merseyside) at the moment than there is elsewhere," she said, adding that there was a particular problem in the more rural areas of Merseyside."We've had to expand Friday's clinic to put in some extra slots as we have had so many children referred in."She said if the hospital could "get young people to come through their period of use and see the other side and realise life can be better without it, then we're doing everybody a huge favour".In England, the number of under-18s entering drug treatment who described ketamine as one of their problem substances rose from 335 to 917 between 2020-21 and 2023-24, according to the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System, Government figures also showed a rise in the number of children and young people aged under 17 reporting problems with ketamine, going up from 512 in 2021 to 2022 to 1,201 in 2023 to councillor Lynnie Hinnigan told city leaders in April that she had heard first-hand from a 20-year-old addict who had "admitted to a room of strangers how she had to wear adult pull-ups, didn't want to die, and was going to leave the session and reuse as she couldn't cope with the pain". What is ketamine? Ketamine is widely used in the NHS as an anaesthetic, sedative and pain reliever, and is also commonly used on is also thought of as a party drug due to its hallucinogenic substance usually comes as a crystalline powder or liquid and can cause serious health problems including irreversible damage to the bladder and coroner for Dorset, Richard Middleton, said ketamine cystitis was an "emerging epidemic" among young people after Joshua Leatham-Prosser was found dead at his home in Weymouth on 5 June 2024, having used the drug since Middleton said the impact on his bladder was "akin to acid attacks on the skin". Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.
