Image copyright Brixton Boys Camp Image caption Health workers in Calais worry that the virus could spread outside
Covid Fight, a pocket community in Calais, is already struggling with poverty and a recent rise in violent crime.
Now local health workers fear an outbreak of one of the world’s most common viruses will drive migrants and refugees from the port town.
They say many have moved to a safer area of the camp – perhaps Paris or Berlin – because they are scared of contracting measles.
Measles is now relatively rare outside Africa and Asia and under the best circumstances you are highly immunised to get it, but the disease is a global public health crisis.
There are four cases of measles diagnosed in Calais in the past four months. The latest was a three-year-old child brought into the camp.
He is the first British baby to be diagnosed with measles since 2016.
Image copyright Brixton Boys Camp Image caption People living in the camp have children and you often hear babies crying in the night
It is still relatively uncommon, but health experts are worried the experience will have an impact on border control as France seeks to prevent the virus spreading.
“There’s the other risk in getting measles in Calais, and that’s the children and those who are pregnant,” says Anna Bourgault, who works at the vaccination centre for the Calais community at the city’s mayor’s office.
“There’s a desire to think twice about bringing a child who is immunised, who already has the two doses of MMR [measles, mumps and rubella] or other vaccinations.”
She says more than a third of children living in the camp have hepatitis B, and that local parents will be alarmed if their children become sick.
What about serious diseases like flu? The international syphilis campaign drive has been halted due to funding issues, and local health workers fear that could have the same effect.
The risk in Calais is lower than at a border crossing, says Mary McGregor, who runs a sexual health clinic in the camp, “but [it’s] a fact people are in transit, therefore they’re exposed. But you can only protect you yourself.”
Image copyright Brixton Boys Camp Image caption “I just want to be free to play,” says M’Bam, who was at the camp before. “We live in a small houread
It can be difficult to inoculate a migrant child overseas because the vaccination is often not given until after the journey.
Calais currently hosts more than 4,000 people, and is growing in numbers.
Hitting over 50,000 people this week, a new ramp has been built at the southern end of the camp to accommodate families.
The mayor of Calais, Natacha Bouchart, says there will be about 900 families by the end of the summer – up from 1,500 a year ago.
So far, Dr Bourgault says, the number of refugees who come to her clinic is not dramatically different from last year.
But she adds that with more health workers in the camp and some new developments, she does not expect numbers to go down – yet.
“It’s linked to climate, it’s linked to camp activity. We will see the numbers from the end of July onwards.”