A spokesperson for Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham health authority said three cases had been confirmed and a further 22 were suspected, with lab results due shortly. It is understood that there have been confirmed cases at both the Abacus Early Learning Nursery in Streatham and the White House Preparatory School in Clapham, although there are no longer any active cases at Abacus. Uptake of the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine (MMR) has fallen as low as 65 per cent in the area.
A spokeswoman for the Public Health Laboratory Service said there was no need to discuss the outbreak in terms of a potential national epidemic, but warned, 'We tend to see 100 confirmed cases of measles in England and Wales per year. If we have areas with a low uptake of immunisation, we will start to see more of these clusters of cases.'
Marjorie Taylor, Abacus principal, said she had reported three suspected cases of measles to the health authority after learning about them from parents after the Christmas break. 'Suddenly we had people from the papers parked outside, disturbing the children and the parents. The way it's been reported sounds as if we have got 22 suspected cases, whereas all the children are back and everything's fine.'
Mrs Taylor said she would not personally advise parents on whether to have children vaccinated. 'I can't see why you can't have a choice of the single measles vaccine or the three-in-one.'
