Optimism over measles rash, plus reminder

Northland District Health Board Medical Officer of Health Clair Mills said five of the six cases had contact with the first case. Photo / John Stone

Health officials hope a measles outbreak in Northland, totalling six cases, is over, but say it serves as a timely reminder to make sure children have their measles vaccinations up to date.

Northland District Health Board Medical Officer of Health Clair Mills said the disease emerged in Northland last month - five of the six cases having had contact with the first case. She had feared the disease could spread further because of the region's historically low immunisation rate.

Measles has hit Waikato, Hawke's Bay and Auckland, but Northland was clear of the disease until an unimmunised Northland child was diagnosed on July 29, after contact with children from Waikato. Five people who had contact with that case had then contracted the disease, but Dr Mills said there had been no new cases in Northland. She hoped the outbreak was over.

The cases were a timely reminder for Northlanders to ensure their children's MMR [measles vaccine] was up to date to prevent catching the disease.

"Even one MMR vaccination can give good protection, but a lot of people in Northland haven't even had one shot." Measles could be a serious illness, one in three sufferers experiencing complications such as ear infections, pneumonia, bronchitis or diarrhoea.

While one in 10 patients, on average, required hospitalisation, admission rates in the Hamilton outbreak had been higher and she urged parents and caregivers not to take their children to places such as day care or school if they showed any symptoms of measles.

Even children exposed to others with measles needed to be isolated for two weeks, she said. Immunisation was the best protection.

Dr Mills said Northland's MMR vaccination rate stood at 88 per cent - compared to a national target of 95 per cent - but 10 years ago it was down to 60 to 70 per cent.