Another health board is opening a drop-in measles vaccination clinic in south Wales later, amid warnings of a likely outbreak in north Wales.
It comes as a million pupils in England who missed MMR jabs are targeted in a catch-up campaign to curb the threat.
A drop-in clinic opens in Llanelli on Saturday, the centre of 65 cases since the beginning of the year.
Four hospitals in and around Swansea are hosting MMR drop-in vaccination clinics for a fourth weekend.
The number of cases in the Swansea-based epidemic could pass 1,000 over the weekend if current trends continue.
End Quote Andrew Jones Director of public health for north WalesWhilst I understand why people have historically had reservations about immunising their children we now have a very different situation"
The outbreak is centred on the Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board area - which covers Swansea, Neath Port Talbot, Bridgend, southern parts of Powys and eastern parts of Carmarthenshire.
High rates of the disease have also been seen in Neath Port Talbot and north Powys.
Eighty-three of the 942 confirmed cases have needed hospital care since the outbreak began in November.
Further tests will be carried out on a 25-year-old Swansea man who died at his flat in the city while suffering from measles after post-mortem examination results were inconclusive.
Special measures to tackle the disease are also in place in Llanelli on Saturday with a drop-in centre at the town's Elizabeth Williams Clinic.
It follows a drive launched on Friday to vaccinate an estimated 4,000 schoolchildren across the three counties of neighbouring Hywel Dda Health Board area.
Health board director Teresa Owen said youngsters in all secondary schools in Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire will be offered the MMR jab.
She said: "Due to Llanelli's close proximity to the outbreak centred in Swansea the programme will begin in the east of Carmarthenshire and is due to be completed across all three counties within four weeks."
Two other health boards - Anuerin Bevan and Cardiff and Vale - have held drop-in MMR clinics on previous weekends.
Meanwhile, Public Health Wales has warned that is is "was only a matter of time" before the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board area in north Wales sees measles cases unless more children and young adults are vaccinated against the disease.
The health board has arranged vaccination sessions at all secondary schools in north Wales. Primary schools that have a vaccination rate of less than 90% are also being targeted.
Andrew Jones, director of public health for north Wales, said: "I'm worried that 10% of our young people are at risk of catching this potentially fatal disease.
"Whilst I understand why people have historically had reservations about immunising their children we now have a very different situation.
We are very vulnerable and if we wait until cases start to appear here it will be too late to prevent the spread across the north.
Epidemics"The vaccine is safe, the needles are tiny and the jab takes seconds; it is never too late to catch up on missed jabs.''
Health officials have warned epidemics similar to the one in Swansea could occur anywhere.
A £20m catch-up campaign in England already has 1.2 million vaccines ready to go amid concerns that that a generation of children have low levels of protection against measles after the MMR scare more than a decade ago.
The campaign aims to vaccinate children yet to be protected with the MMR - measles, mumps and rubella - jab by September.
Run through GPs, schools and community groups, it will focus on children aged 10 to 16.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
New MMR jab clinic in measles fight
Dengan url
http://beritaasalusil.blogspot.com/2013/04/new-mmr-jab-clinic-in-measles-fight.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
New MMR jab clinic in measles fight
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
New MMR jab clinic in measles fight
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar