MMR - can they get measles still?

[fletchie]

Really quick question -
Have a 16 month old who had MMR 7 weeks ago. She has been unwell lately and now developed a rash that looks very much like measles to me. Could this be possible? Am waiting for NHS Direct to get back to me but are taking an age.
She has been in contact with measles as a friends little boy has had it.
Thanks x

what age was he vaccinated sugarfree and did you bfeed?

He was breastfed for a week and immunised at just under 13 months.

Message withdrawn

JJ
My entire career is focused on being able to fly my children back to the US for their teen boosters.

Never heard nowt so ridiculous as to not offer them to teens/adults when it's becoming glarinly obvious that not to do so is putting adults at serious risk of contracting diseases which are usually VERY nasty and costly to treat in those who aren't children.

Not to mention that adults/teens can pass these illnesses to one another and to infants/children who are too young to be immunised.

they change the recommended ages all the time sugarfree but they used to say that vaccination pre-15 months was less likely to work (the measles bit), and in the styates for a while "proof of immunity" meant vaccination post 15 months. they've played around with things like MMR at 9 months then 12 months etc. I think it is slightly more likely to work post 15 months. However it is less likely to work at a young age if there has been extended breastfeeding so in your case 13 months may have been fine.....

ah they'll have introduced them by then expat. rememeber MMR was introduced later here, so this is the first generation of young adults that's at risk from immunity wearing off. It will eventually dawn on someone that they can't blame Wakefield for previously vacinated 20 somethings getting measles (like the 8 nurses- what did happen to them?) Hopefully they'll then stop playing politics and start thinking about health.

Socci - was that expats GP being interviewed?

FORMER GP, JJ . Got rid of him. Where there's a will, there's a way .

Shame so many will have to fall ill or even lose their health or lives before they introduce the bloody booster .

I listened to the show. It was the show where he had a woman GP who had been very ill with mealses recently and lost her sigh for a few days? Very frightening. A good programme and I wish the people who think of measles as a cute little harmless disease all listened.

Why was an adult catching measles? I don't think anyone thinks measles is a cute little illness. In adults in partiocular it is very serious, which is why its important adults have immunity. Don't misrepresent what is said.

juule, that mumps type reaction is a known side effect of the MMR - ds got that around 3 weeks afterwards and it's something to do with the mumps part of the MMR working.

dd also got a measles rash but that was only after around 2 weeks I think.

There are lots of rashes that look like measles (like roseola etc.) and often, lots of the newer GPs would never have seen the measles rash in the flesh (so to speak!).

If they're not particularly ill, and have a measles type rash then the main thing to check is that it isn't german measles. The german measles rash looks quite like heatrash, and isn't as intense as a measles rash.

I think she caught it from some of her patientsw who had come to her with measles. I didn't hear the start of her phone call. When people stop vaccinating their children then measles with come around and adults will get it too.
Yes lots of people think mealses a harmless disease. I have been on MN long enough to have read all the "I had measles I am fine" and "let the immune system do its job"-type arguments. There was also calls from a lady whose mother had had rubella while pregnant and she had been born with a hole on her heart and some other problems.

is the German measles 'rubella'? my mum said it looks like 'prickly heat', red patches rather than the pin-type rash.

'When people stop vaccinating their children then measles with come around and adults will get it too.'

The BIG problem is that measles is still present in the population and that's not going to change. Then you have people who are now adults who had only childhood vaccines against measles.

They are NOT immune anymore to measles. So they catch it and pass it around.

The young adults who caught mumps in our department contracted it from other young adults, not children.

So why didn't the GP have immunity? Had her vaccination worn off? Had she not been vaccinated? Pre the introduction of measles vaccination it was practically unheard of for an adult to get measles. As I said earlier measles has been recorded in 100% vaccinated populations- expat has mentioned it before as well- and that is why the States introduced a booster in the teens (and presumably will introudce later ones in adulthood as the vaccinated generation grows).

I don;t think anyone thinks "ooh I won'\t vaccinate my child today because measles is like a cold", the decision is far more complicated than that.

Well, some are, but there are those who aren't and no one can probably really say what those numbers are.

Enough to cause mumps outbreaks at universities. So many that Oxford is now asking freshers to get a top up MMR.

yes- expat that;s the one- ds1 had it (caught from a vaccinated child- who spread it everywhere as his mum didn't realise he could have it after having MMR). DS1 didn't pass it on because I knew he had been exposed and we stayed in.

Measles is so contagious I'm not sure the efficacy is high enough to rely on herd immunity protecting those without immunity. I suppose it will get worse if vacinated mothers whose immunity has waned give birth to babies who will have no immunity until they get the MMR at 13 months. Vaccinating teens would protect against that rather frightening situation as well.

Oh yes, there are lots of people who don't vaccinate because they think M, M and R are harmless childhood diseases. I know them personally and I know them from MN. Plenty of people, of course, have more complex reasons for not vaccinating and plenty of people have very good reasons for not vaccinating. Anyway, hoping the uptake of MMR will improve and that they introudce a teen-booster.

The uptake of MMR doesn't matter if the uptake of monovalents is high. In Japan they had this problem (parents refusing MMR- not because of autism concerns - because Japan had been using MMR containing urabe strain mumps which had been causing meningitis), and rates fell resulting in the high number of cases cited. They got round this parental refusal by offering monovalents as well and the rates rose again.

So it is definitely a "measle-type" virus he's got and could still yet turn out to be actual measles.
Depends how the rash goes apparently,got to go back if it's still there in a few days.

jimjams, can you tell me more about the link between breastfeeding and MMR efficacy? How does that work? I BF DS up to 1 yo and he had MMR at about 14 months. Oviously don't know if he's in the 5-10% where it didn't work but anyway..I'm now BF DD and was planning to go a bit longer but if the effect on MMR is significant....or if it makes a difference to delay MMR by a few months... I don't know
Can you shed any light?

Just wanted to say thank you for all your comments. My little one has probably got measles - just waiting on results. Thankfully is well on the mend now - rash is now on lower part of tummy and legs, so on the way out.

PS - Sugarfree - hope your little one will be alright x

Vivi36 - this is taken from netdoctor "Children under 12 months of age should not normally be given this vaccine because they may not respond adequately to it if they still have antibodies passed on by the mother. If it is necessary to give the vaccine to a child under 12 months because they are at special risk, the child should receive a second dose at 15 months and a further booster dose at the normal time."

Fletchie - taken from the same place: "Children who had a side effect within six weeks of receiving a previous MMR vaccine that involved easy bruising or bleeding for longer than normal (idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura) should have a test to measure the levels of antibodies in their blood before they are given a second dose of the vaccine. If the tests shows that the child is not fully immune to measles, mumps and rubella it is recommended that the second MMR dose is given." It doesn't sound like this is what your DD had, but thought i'd bring it to your attention as it is within 6 weeks, later than the usual vaccination side-effects we watch out for. It sounds like your DD is having a speedy & full recovery.