A mother has shared devastating images of her baby girl who contracted measles in a bid to urge all parents to vaccinate their children.
Jilly Moss, from London, posted photos of baby Alba on Facebook to show the effects of the disease, which can cause blindness, encephalitis and pneumonia.
She said that doctors at Chelsea West Hospital, where Alba is being treated, had asked her to share the images to show people the reality and dangers of not immunising kids against the deadly disease.
And she said she wanted to tell the world that measles is not “just a rash”.
Moss told HuffPost UK: “We wanted to share our story so parents are aware of what can happen to little vulnerable babies who are too young to be vaccinated.”
She also said she hoped people would share her family’s story – saying “the more people who see it, the better informed parents will be”.
In the viral Facebook post, which has been shared at time of writing 57,000 times, Moss wrote that Alba was “too young” for her MMR vaccination when she got sick – which meant she had to fight the killer virus “with no immunity”.
“It has been absolutely horrific watching our daughter fight this with her eyes swollen shut for four days,” she wrote.
“She has been in the dark, scared with a high fever that lasted for over two weeks. In hospital she has been scanned, X-rayed, poked, prodded, bloods taken, lumbar punctures done, canulars fitted, swabs taken, ECG Eccos, obs done every 20 mins, tube-fed, on a drip, oxygen, pumped full of drugs, anti inflammatory pain relief, antibiotics – you name it, she’s had it.
“The truth is this all could have been prevented if the protection layer of older kids above Alba had been vaccinated.”
And she added: “We need to do more people. Get your children vaccinated.”