Spotting ocular signs of measles
With an outbreak of measles anticipated in Lancashire and South Cumbria in the coming weeks, the ICB is asking all primary care to play their part both in preventing the spread of the illness and spotting the signs and symptoms during patient consultations.
Conjunctivitis and photophobia may be initial symptoms of measles. Please be alert to this possible diagnosis and likely accompanying symptoms including cough, runny nose, and fever.
Think Measles!
Telephone triage (eg for CUES/MECS) or telemedicine consultations for red eye should include consideration of measles. Do not invite suspected cases to attend an optical practice for face-to-face examination. Instead, ask the patient to call their GP or NHS 111. They should not attend their GP practice or any other healthcare setting (e.g. A&E) unless told to do so, as measles spreads very easily.
In the unlikely event someone attends your practice with suspected measles, please isolate the patient to protect others and help them to safely access a medical consultation, initially by telephone.
Are your staff vaccinated?
It is important that all primary care contractors check to see if staff members have been vaccinated. If any members of your team are not vaccinated, they should be encouraged to contact their GP practice to arrange this. Please note that the isolation period for staff who have not had two MMR vaccinations or proven serological immunity (a positive blood antibody test for measles that shows a level reached for immunity) who come into contact with a measles case is 21 days, so from a business continuity perspective it is important as many people as possible are protected from infection.
As an ICB we have set up an area on our website providing all the resources and information we currently have to support contractors. This can be found via the link below.
