Measles victim sparks check

Parents are being offered extra help and advice after a child caught Measles in Middleton.

Fears grew that the child could be infectious and may have made it more likely for other children in the area to catch the disease.

The Health Protection Agency confirmed the child attended Sure Start and pre-school facilities in the Middleton area on 16, 18 and 19 March.

The say it is unlikely that the child was infectious at the time, but would like to offer help as a “precautionary” measure.

Dr. Marko Petrovic, Consultant in Communicable Disease Control with the Health Protection Agency’ s Greater Manchester Health Protection Unit, said: “Although we think that any infection risk would be small, we are alerting parents to the situation and advising them to seek medical advice if they suspect measles in their child.”

Parents should seek advice by telephoning their GP surgery or NHS Direct, the 24-hour nurse-led telephone information service.

They should not take children with symptoms to their GP surgery or local hospital accident and emergency unit where they might risk passing on infection to other vulnerable children.