Measles: Parents urged to vaccinate after child in Liverpool dies

Alder Hey Children’s Hospital has said that it is treating an increasing number of children for measles, amid reports that a child died after contracting the infection.1The Times reported that a child died in the Liverpool hospital’s intensive care unit while severely ill with measles as well as other serious health problems.2Alder Hey said that while it could not comment on individual cases, it was “concerned about the increasing number of children and young people who are contracting measles.” It said that since June it has treated 17 children for the effects and complications of measles.An open letter from Alder Hey, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), and the directors of public health for Liverpool, Sefton, and Knowsley urged parents to vaccinate their children against the infection.3“Several children are seriously unwell and receiving treatment at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital,” the letter said. “Children in hospital who are very poorly for…