HCP chat: GP unsure about immunity amnesia after adult measles

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Hello, I'm hoping a health professional can help me because I'm really struggling with my GP!
I have recently been hospitalized with measles and complications caused by the infection. I was in hospital for a week and was very ill. I'm in my 40s and very fit normally, so I was very surprised to be so struck down like this. I'm now feeling much better and ready to go back to work (education, small children) however I was advised that I had immunity amnesia and would need my antibodies monitoring and a revaccination program. My GP seems lost, they have been very slow in responding and don't seem to know what this means. They have advised that I shouldn't return to work and don't go anywhere where there's lots of people but nothing else! Can anyone tell me how on earth I get my life back after measles?

I have immunity amnesia. I had German measles as a child. Then jabs with first and second still no immunity.

A teacher friend caught it a few times. It's not bad after the first time she said just inconvenient.

You'll have to be revaccinated. It's obviously important to stay safe.

Hi there, thanks for your message. So German measles is Rubella I think it has a different effect on the immune system. Measles wipes the T cells of all its immune memory and only gives it measles immunity, so I'm definitely covered for measles but not anything else. Does the doctor need to test to confirm this? It's all so unclear. The consultant in hospital said I was basically at ground zero from an immunity point of view. But that was 3 weeks ago, can one assume it's growing every day?

Your immunity will only grow with exposure which can either happen naturally or via vaccinations. Vaccinations is the safer route as you won’t catch the illness (maybe have a few mild symptoms) rather than catching the full blown illness if you catch it while you are out and about or at work. As you work with small kids your risk of getting sick is very high.

I would reach out to your GP and see when you can start your revaccination program so that you can start to build up that immunity again.

I would go to the vaccination team at your Integrated Care Board (ICB), they'll have a vaccination service who might be able to give a bit more guidance.

@Timeforabiscuit thank you, I'll look this up. The nurse at my GP just said she was going to give me the MMR and didn't know about anything else which obviously baffled me as measles is the one thing I am immune to!!

My reading suggests immunity amnesia means you lose immunity to measles so the only way of getting it back again is to immunise you against it. Hence the MMR which is the only way of giving it. Would probably be sensible for the GP to liaise with the virology department medical team to get advice. I'm sure they will have been involved in you care in the background as you were so ill with it. Hopefully a couple of boosters will help get it back. Not something I was aware of seeing during my medical career.

I don’t understand why your consultant and GP haven’t liaised in this. Wasn’t there a discharge letter? If it’s unclear what needs to happen then he/she should contact them to clarify.

"Measles suppresses the immune system, and activates it at the same time," says Swart. Though measles deletes immune memories, there is one exception to these losses. Oddly, the only virus you'll definitely be able to recognise after falling sick with measles is measles itself.

So to clarify I have immunity against measles but probably nothing else

@mumumental this is my issue !! I've tried to get through to the infectious disease consultant who discharged me to get advice but can't get through and the GP has made no attempt as far as I'm aware.

I have read this as well and was curious. I had measles around age 17 and nobody said anything about it at the time. But years later I have now wondered if I ought to have had any re-vaccinations of the other childhood vaccines. But it sounded like you generally get exposure to most things over time, so I haven't ever found anything that specifically says which ones should be re-done. I will be interested to find out if you get any definitive answers to this, and whether you need to be tested first for them. I don't think I had it badly - I wasn't in hospital, but was off school for a couple of weeks, obviously, and I don't know if severity makes a difference. I had had the measles vaccine as a child, caught the mumps infection, had rubella vaccine, and then whatever other childhood vaccines there were, polio and diphtheria and all that, all before I actually got the measles age 17. I don't know if they can test your immunity for all of them. I don't think my GP will be interested.

@Monetsbridge im so sorry, that is really bad luck. I was told if you had 1 dose of the it would provide partial cover but your immune system has to work really hard to fight it because it's a very virilant infection. I didn't have any measles vaccinations because I was really ill as a baby.

To be fair, thanks to immunisation, your GP has probably hardly ever seen measles. I’ve been a paediatrician for over 25 years and I’ve only seen 3 active cases (and one death from long term side effects). It sounds like the hospital should have got advice from immunology, not just dumped this on your GP.

@nocoolnamesleft I know, it was a big surprise when they said it was measles because to begin with they thought it was a bacterial infection or meningitis. The consultant said to the doctor the day that I left that an appointment would be made for anti body testing but it's been radio silence and I'm stuck in limbo not being able to return to work for fear of being infected with something else.

That sounds scary for you. Sounds like the plan was to organise something via the hospital. If you know your consultant’s name, you could try asking for their secretary via hospital switchboard, and they could chase it up for you?

Quite! It's a real dump on the GP. They probably need time to get advice and they don't have much spare time. The GP should dump it back on the hospital consultant. GPs cannot be experts in everything. It's totally unrealistic

@Musicaltheatremum yes agreed. To make matters worse I have just spoken to a secretary in the infectious diseases dept and they advised the doctors need to do a referral back to the hospital so more administrative load!!

You're going to need polio again. It's like going back to the start.

I had a friend who had to have all her childhood vaccinations again, she had to go to a regional hospital. Sure the should refer you to an immunologist?

are there any NICE guidelines or anything that definitively say what needs to be re-done, what testing needs to be done first to check immune status, and what age/severity of measles makes it necessary? I can't find any official guidance for the UK, just some discussion and speculation about the effects