Great Ormond Street Hospital NHS Trust today confirmed that one of
its former patients, a baby of eight months, nearly died from measles.
Fortunately Lydia is now doing well and has been home for some time.
Dr David Elliman, a consultant in paediatric community health at GOSH said:
“Lydia
was too young to have the MMR vaccine. If everyone around her had been
immunised, she would not have caught the disease. This is the classic
reason why we need ‘herd immunity’ - having your child immunised
protects your child, but also many other children.
“We’ve also
seen babies very ill from whooping cough (pertussis) because their older
brothers and sisters have not been immunised.”
Dr Elliman added:
“Your
child is never too old to be immunised against measles, mumps and
rubella. Two doses of MMR are necessary to give full protection against
the diseases."
For more information please visit: http://www.immunisation.nhs.uk/
Contact information:
GOSH-ICH Press Office: 020 7239 3126
Email: vessem@gosh.nhs.uk
For genuine and urgent out of hours call speak to switchboard on 020 7405 9200
