334 laboratory confirmed cases of measles have been reported in England and Wales to the Health Protection Agency up to the end of April 2011, compared to a provisional total of 374 cases for the whole of 2010.

Cases are mainly in children or adults under 25 years of age, the vast majority are unvaccinated. Measles cases have been associated with small clusters in universities, schools or families or associated with travel abroad. Other European countries have also seen increases in measles cases in recent months.

Dr Mary Ramsay, head of the immunisation department at the Health Protection Agency, said: "We again are reminding parents and young adults of the importance of immunisation. Although MMR coverage has improved over the last few years, we cannot stress enough that measles is serious and in some cases it can be fatal.

"Measles is a highly infectious and potentially dangerous illness which spreads very easily. Whether you stay here in the UK or travel abroad it is crucial that individuals who may be at risk are fully immunised."

Notes

1. Number of laboratory confirmed measles cases in England and Wales, Jan-April 2011 by region:

London: 104
South East: 102
Yorkshire and Humber: 46
South West: 28
North West: 22
West Midlands: 21
East Midlands: 6
East of England: 5
North East: 0
Wales: 0
Total: 334

2. National Travel Health Network and Centre (NaTHNaC) advice on measles risk during travel is available here.

3. Latest UK Quarterly Figures for MMR Uptake: September to December 2010

- By 24 months 89.4% of children in UK had received their first dose of the MMR vaccine - an increase of 0.5% on the previous quarter.

- Children who received their first dose of MMR vaccine by the age of 5 in the UK was 92.8% - an increase of 0.5% compared to the previous quarter.

- By 5 years 84.8% of children in UK had received their second dose of the MMR vaccine - an increase of 0.2% compared to the previous quarter.

4. Between January - April 2010, 33 laboratory confirmed cases of measles were reported to the HPA.

5. According to EUVAC.NET (the European surveillance network for vaccine-preventable diseases) during the first quarter of 2011 there were 9,349 reported measles cases from the 32 countries giving a crude incidence of 1.58 per 100,000 inhabitants. Of the total, 90% of cases (n=8,443) were reported from six countries: France (78%), Spain (5%), Germany (3%), Italy (2%), Romania (2%), and Switzerland (2%).

Source:
Health Protection Agency