Children without immunisation face school ban

Photo / Geoff Sloan

Children who are not immunised against measles risk being sent home from school, the Ministry of Health warned today.

The warning comes amid growing concerns about a potential epidemic, with the number of notified measles cases this year already seven times higher than the total number of cases last year.

The ministry said in a statement that infected students and teachers would be excluded from school for seven days from the appearance of the rash.

Those who were not immunised and were exposed to infected people would be excluded from school for 14 days from their last contact, the ministry said.

The ministry's chief adviser for child and youth, Pat Tuohy, said it was important for parents to get their children immunised.

"Measles is a highly infectious notifiable disease, with serious complications including ear infections, pneumonia and encephalitis or inflammation of the brain," Dr Tuohy said.

"We are really concerned that the current low immunisation levels mean many children are vulnerable to measles and may get very sick from this disease."

Dr Tuohy said if a child who was not immunised came into contact with someone who was infected, there was more than a 90 per cent chance they would catch measles.

- NZPA