17 May 2012

Could be serious

5/10/2011 11:23:00 a.m.

0 Comments

Measles, discovered in a Victoria University student, can have serious and potentially fatal complications.

Measles, discovered in a Victoria University student, can have serious and potentially fatal complications.

A 19 year old Victoria University student was confirmed as having measles late last week, causing the concerned Student Health centre at the university to switch into crisis prevention mode before exams start shortly. The female student had been in close contact with someone in Auckland, where there’s been an outbreak of 200 cases since May.
Victoria ran a clinic last Friday for students to be checked and update their MMR vaccinations. All classmates of the infected student have been contacted via email and encouraged to monitor themselves for early symptoms, which include fever, runny nose, cough, sore red eyes and white spots on the inside of the mouth.
Student Health is also advising students to check their vaccination status or talk to the health clinic or their private GPs if they are unsure whether they need the jab.
Measles cases in New Zealand generally come from overseas, as there’s hardly any measles here, explains Dr Margot McLean from Wellington Regional Public Health, the organisation managing the outbreak at Victoria University.
“If only one or two people get measles it’s not enough to start an outbreak like we’ve seen in New Zealand, but it happened it 2009 and it’s happened again this year. There have been more cases overseas so more chances of people getting it here, which has started this outbreak,” says McLean.
Vaccination rates have decreased since 1989 when a since widely discredited article published in a medical journal The Lancet established a causal link between the MMR vaccine and autism. Author of the article, Dr Andrew Wakefield, has since been struck off the UK medical register, though the conviction that it is unsafe to immunise is widespread. McLean says that rates are increasing again, as complications from catching the disease are serious.
“There are one in 1000 deaths from measles,” she says, “Wellingtonians need to know it’s a nasty infection.”
The MMR vaccination is free to New Zealanders. It is recommended children be vaccinated at 15 months and again at four years, but adults who have not been vaccinated should be aware it’s never too late.
The Victoria student, who was admitted to Wellington Hospital, listed as being in a stable condition, has now passed the infectious period and will soon be clear to return to class and sit exams.
Email This Print

0 Comments

Don't worry, we wont make this public

No comments.

Cover Story

Best of Wellington 2011

Briefs

  • A question of nutrition

    Controversial Washington-based nutritionist Sally Fallon-Morell is to speak in Wellington on March 29.
    Fallon-Morell is the co-founder of the American food lobby group the Weston A. Price Foundation and the author of Nourishing Traditions. She advocates for the consumption of nutritionally dense foods such as lacto-fermented vegetables, stocks and broths, and whole raw dairy products.
    Fallon-Morell will speak at St Patrick’s College Hall on March 29.

  • Relay for cancer

    Organisers say Sunday’s Relay for Life is full to capacity with hundreds of Wellingtonians registered for the event.
    A total of 88 teams, made up of 10 to 500 members, plan to take part with a further 25 teams on the waiting list.
    The 24 hour relay, the Cancer Society’s biggest fundraising event of the year, takes place at Frank Kitts Park from 4pm on March 31.

  • Osteoarthritis awareness

    Arthritis New Zealand has launched a nationwide campaign raise awareness about osteoarthritis. 
    Arthritis is New Zealand’s leading cause of disability, affecting 305,000 adults, and osteoarthritis is its most common form.
    The campaign features television commercials and an interactive website.


  • Wild walk

    Take part in the Big Walk at Zealandia on March 31.
    Walkers can choose a two, five or 10 kilometre walk catering to all fitness levels.
    Money raised will go to the Foundation for Youth Development.

  • School pool

    The opening of the new Khandallah School pool this week means hundreds of children will be able to continue their swimming lessons.
    The pool was the first to receive a grant from Wellington City Council’s Schools Pools Partnership Fund, a fund set up in 2010 to help schools improve their pool facilities.
    Grants from the fund have also been made for pools at Wellington East Girls’ College, Barhampore School and Tawa School.

  • Easter bikers

    Motorcyclists are invited to get on their bikes and collect Easter eggs for families support from the Wellington City Mission.
    The charity run on April 1 is organised by motorcycle lobby group BONZ.
    Eggs can be donated at Red Baron Motorcylces in Alicetown. The registration fee for bikers is $10, plus the cost of Easter eggs.

  • Crafty

    Made on Marion opens on the site of the former Golding Handicrafts site in Marion St, from April 1.  They will continue to supply craft materials.

  • Ze upgrade

    Taranaki Street fuel users will notice that the Z Energy’s former Shell Service Station is closed.  Z are doing a “total revamp”.
    The job will take four weeks.

  • Newlands Moves

    Developer Ayal Aharoni has agreed to build only 90 instead of 220 houses on his six and a half hectares above Ngauranga Gorge in Newlands.  Only low density occupation will be allowed on the remaining 8.4 hectares.


  • Baring Head

    There's a new  draft plan out for what should happen at Baring Head.  It outlines how the Greater Wellington Regional council would like to manage the newest addition to its regional parks network. Grazing animals will go, motorised vehicles will be prohibited, predators will be controlled, and the lighthouse will be preserved. Submissions are invited.


  • It’s a wonder

    A new childcare centre in Newtown says it is dedicated to helping kids grow up healthy in mind, body and spirit. Little Wonders Childcare on Rintoul Street is an independent early childhood education and learning centre, the sixth centre to be opened by its Auckland-based owner. It caters to 100 children aged between three months and five years old and has been open for a little more than seven weeks.

  • Festival treats

    CHILDREN have not been forgotten by organisers of the New Zealand International Arts Festival.
    For a perfect first theatrical experience White tells the story of friends Cotton and Winkle who live in a world where there is no colour and everything is startlingly white. That is until a brightly coloured egg tumbles out of the sky and changes their world for ever.
    White plays at Capital E from March 7-11.
    The tale of Peter and the World also promises to be a magical night for all ages. Sergei Prokofiev’s classic children’s tale is told through film and live music from the NZ Symphony Orchestra at the Michael Fowler Centre on March 9.
    March 11 is Young Writers and Readers Day and readings from children’s writers and illustrators Lynley Dodd and Gavin Bishop.

Reader's Poll

Should TVNZ7 be saved as non-commercial?