Since the start of 2023, measles has been reported in a third of countries in the World Health Organization (WHO) European region. And in the first five months of the year, there were 5,699 cases reported there – nearly seven times as many as in the whole of 2022.
The UK lost its measles-free status in 2019, indicating that the measles virus was circulating and there was inadequate vaccination to prevent its spread. If exposed to the measles virus, 90% of unvaccinated people will get infected. The virus spreads like wildfire among the unvaccinated, as demonstrated recently when seven unvaccinated children at a nursery school in Stoke-on-Trent nursery caught the bug.
With the latest data from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) showing at least one measles case in each region in England this year, and warnings of the potential for outbreaks in London, where else in the UK are children at risk? The short answer is probably “everywhere”.
