A mother from Ross whose daughter spent six days in hospital with measles has spoken to the Ross Gazette of her hope that parents will go and get their children immunised.

Sarah Osborn's three year old daughter Dottie, who had not received the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine, caught measles from the child of a family friend who didn't have the symptoms but was already contagious.

Sarah said: "A few days after we were together my friend's child had a temperature and a rash, before being diagnosed with measles.

"Then Dottie had a sky high temperature of 106, a sore throat and was really washed out."

Dottie, was initially diagnosed with tonsillitis, spent 48 hours in hospital and was sent home with a prescription. She returned to the doctors after white spots appeared in her mouth and was confirmed as having measles.

Sarah said: "We were told that she needed to eat and drink plenty of fluids but that was difficult as the white spots irritated her, so she went into hospital for another four days and was put on a drip."Sarah explained how the rash started as a pin prick-like spots on Dottie's face before spreading down her body and limbs and joining up until she was completely red.

Sarah said: "I was absolutely gob smacked at how quickly it spread and how red Dottie was. It was frightening."

Thankfully, Dottie came out of hospital on Friday and is getting back to her old self. Sarah said: "When the rash reaches the toes, it then recedes. It was awful seeing her so poorly but it could've been so much worse. People don't realise the complications arising from measles can include deafness, blindness and pneumonia, to name a few. It is frightening.

"I would appeal to any parents who have questions or worries to get to a GP."

Sarah originally elected not to get Dottie immunised with the MMR vaccine due to medical worries.

Sarah said: "I have four children. My first child had the jabs and was fine. My second child, who passed away six years ago, had an undiagnosed syndrome, so when my third (Dottie) and fourth children were born I was concerned how the jabs would effect their health.

"It was nothing to do with the hype over the criticism MMR had received due to some links to autism."

For the full story please see this week's Ross Gazette.