Measles outbreak reaches 21 cases

Newton Stewart was one place where the outbreak first hit

The number of cases in the Dumfries and Galloway measles outbreak has hit 21 - including a teacher and two pupils at a Dumfries primary school.

The region has an MMR vaccine uptake of over 93% and this has risen since this outbreak was confirmed.

Recent research has shown 25 postcode areas in Scotland where one in five nursery children is at risk of measles.

Health experts in the south west say that level of uptake could lead to much more serious outbreaks of the disease.

Dumfries and Galloway public health consultant Dr David Breen said the impact of measles would be much greater in areas with low vaccination rates.

'Get into problems'

"In many ways people who are not immunised are being protected by those who are immunised," he said.

"Once the figures go down you get into problems.

"For most people, yes, it is only measles.

"It seems like we are doing a lot of immunising for what was accepted years ago as just something you got.

The number of reported cases seems to be slowing down Dr David Breen

"What the public won't accept is people dying from it."

Dr Breen stressed that the number of people getting complications from measles remained very low.

He said that a policy of "informed consent" in Dumfries and Galloway had led to the high uptake of the MMR vaccine.

He added that there had been increased demand since the outbreak was confirmed.

It appears that the spread of the disease in the region - which first emerged around Kirkcowan and New Galloway - has started to slow down.

High MMR uptake has limited the cases in Dumfries and Galloway

"At the moment we are just watching it day by day," said Dr Breen. "We are keeping an open mind on it, it could spread to other areas.

"The number of reported cases seems to be slowing down."

The youngest child affected so far was three years old, with the oldest person aged 39.

The small number of pupils and staff who have not been immunised at the Dumfries primary school struck have all been contacted to see if they want the vaccine.

"We are chasing our tails in many ways," admitted Dr Breen.

"We know this will eventually probably burn itself out."