A primary care pharmacist has shared her story of contracting measles and is urging parents to get their children vaccinated to avoid any health difficulties she experienced. 

NHS North Central London Integrated Care Board (ICB) prescribing advisor Saijal Ladd spent a week in hospital after getting measles and was told how doctors “nearly lost me” at one point. 

Protection against measles comes from the MMR vaccine, and people usually get their jabs when they’re a young child at their GP surgery. But community pharmacies can also offer it as part of their services. 

Read more: ‘It shocked me’: LPC chief urges pharmacists to get flu jab 

Ladd had a sore throat and temperature but started doing self-care by taking paracetamol and warm fluids, as well as resting.

But she got worse, and had diarrhoea, a fever, a rash over her body, and a general feeling of weakness. 

“Being a pharmacist, I knew this wasn’t a common cold or even flu and soon realised with all the other accompanying symptoms that the rash looked like measles,” she said. 

An ambulance took her to hospital after Ladd called 999 and she was placed in isolation as she started vomiting as well. 

Read more: Pharmacist suspended for claiming MMR jab causes autism 

“My family were informed, but when they arrived, I was unable to speak to them as my voice had been affected by the vomiting,” she said. 

Ladd’s memory of events grows hazier after medication and fluids were fed to her via a drip, but then she suffered from liver, kidney and lung failure. 

“I woke up at some point to find an ICU consultant standing by my bedside assessing whether to admit me into intensive care,” she said. “I don’t recall what happened after this, but when I woke the next morning, I was still on the ward.  

“A family member later told me how they nearly lost me during the night and that the clinicians were unsure if I would make it through until morning.” 

Given a “second chance” 

Ladd was “so grateful to have woken up” and “thankful” she had led a fit and healthy life, which boosted her body’s immune system and the ability to fight the measles virus. 

But it wasn’t until two to three months later that she got “back to a normal activity level” as her muscles had to regain their strength. 

Read more: NHS expands pharmacy MMR jabs to 16-25s amid rising cases

Ladd is encouraging people to get their MMR vaccine, so they aren’t at risk of having a similar experience to what happened to her. 

“This whole experience was extremely frightening, and I would urge all parents to consider vaccinating their children so that they don’t have to go through what I did in adulthood. 

“Looking back, I’m so grateful to be alive and really feel like life has given me a second chance!” 

Read more: 'No plans' to roll out MMR jab in NI pharmacies despite awareness campaign 

It comes as C+D reported that an LPC chief missed getting her flu jab and was ill for four months after catching it. 

In February, a General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) fitness-to-practise (FtP) committee suspended a pharmacist for four months after she shared “misinformation about the MMR vaccination and autism”, which “risked serious harm” to a patient 

Last year, NHS England North West expanded its pharmacy MMR jab catch-up campaign to young people aged 16-25 and London pharmacies were selected to deal with low MMR vaccine uptake after a surge in cases.