8-month-old baby contracted measles because of anti-vaxxers, claim experts, mum

Mum of an 8-month-old girl who caught measles before she could get her MMR shot slams anti-vaxxers for fueling the outbreak. Photo / Fainy Sukenik

A mother is furious with anti-vaxxers after her baby girl, who is too young to vaccinate, caught measles.

Eight-month-old Israeli girl Shira Goldschmidt was recently diagnosed with the disease, one that can be deadly if not picked up early, especially in infants.

Her mother Fainy Sukenik has vaccinated all her older children, but unfortunately, Shira was too young to give a measles vaccine too.

Shira started getting a runny nose, a temperature of 40C and a few days later red spots over her bodies.

"It wasn't just dots on one part of her body. They were everywhere: inside her mouth, between her fingers, in between her toes," her mother told CNN. "I'm an experienced mother, and never ever have I seen something like this. I was really scared."

The youngster was hospitalised, and infectious disease experts say the 8-month-old's measles was caused by anti-vaxxers, CNN reported.

Infectious disease experts have blamed measles outbreaks around the world on anti-vaxxers, saying those who've chosen not to vaccinate will spread measles to babies under age 1 whose parents want to vaccinate them but can't because they're too young.

"It's absolutely inevitable," said Dr Peter Hotez, a vaccine scientist at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

The virus is so contagious that a baby under the age of 1 could get it by entering a room where someone with measles had been two hours before, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As for Shira, she could hardly eat or drink following her measles diagnosis, her breathing was shallow and she fell so weak she struggled to hold her own head up.

The 8-month-old was placed in isolation and received intravenous fluids.

Taking to Facebook, Sukenik took aim at the misinformation being spread by anti-vaxxers, and said while they have the right to choose, there should be a discussion on how anti-vaxxers' actions impact others.

"Let's talk for a moment about freedom of choice for those who believe that vaccinations are Satan and the source of all evil," she wrote.

"It should be stated that they have a right to believe in anything they choose, but we should also talk about the price that others pay."

She suggested that anti-vaxxers either "stay in enclosed areas or hold a big banner noting that you are anti-vaccine."

Mum of an 8-month-old girl who caught measles before she could get her MMR shot slams anti-vaxxers for fueling the outbreak. Photo / Fainy Sukenik

While Shira has now recovered, she's not out of the woods yet.

Doctors have told her parents she could still experience devastating complications from her measles diagnoses in years to come.

While rare, more than seven years down the track measles sufferers can develop subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, a disabling and deadly brain disorder, according to the CDC.

In March, plans were under way in a New York county to ban unvaccinated children from public spaces amid a relentless measles outbreak.

Before the introduction of the measles vaccine in 1963, most children did contract the illness - an estimated 3 million to 4 million patients each year in the United States, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In 2019, cases of a measles outbreak have been reported in Canterbury, Auckland and the Bay of Plenty.

In late March, more than 50 cases of measles were reported around New Zealand.

The MMR vaccine incredibly effective with more than 99 per cent of people who receive two doses of the vaccine develop immunity to measles.

The MMR vaccine is free for any child and teenager, and adult who is known to be susceptible to one or more of the diseases.

For more information visit the Immunisation Advisory Centre website.