Measles is no longer considered eliminated in UK, Greece, the Czech Republic and Albania as WHO warns of spike in cases
Europe has seen a “dramatic resurgence” of measles, with more cases reported in the first half of 2019 than the whole of last year, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, said misinformation about vaccines, particularly that shared on social media, is “as contagious and dangerous as the diseases it helps to spread”.
“Each of these countries are examples that have extremely high national vaccination coverage. So these are not examples of countries that have particularly weak systems,” said Kate O’Brien, director of the WHO’s Immunization Department.
India stood fourth among 194 countries in the number of measles cases registered between July 2018 and June 2019…With 39,299 cases India bagged the fourth spot after Madagascar (150,976), Ukraine (84,394) and Philippines (45,847)
“This is the alarm bell that is ringing around the world: being able to achieve high national coverage is not enough, it has to be achieved in every community, and every family for every child,” she said.
Almost 90,000 people in Europe were reported to have the disease between January and June this year compared to 84,462 cases in 2018. Nearly three times as many cases were reported from January to July this year than in the same period in 2018, the WHO said.Nearly 365,000 cases have been reported globally this year, the highest figure since 2006, it said, noting that they represent only a fraction of the 6.7 million suspected cases.
Measles caused an estimated 109,000 deaths in 2017, its most recent figures show.The biggest outbreaks are raging in the Democratic Republic of Congo (155,460 cases), Madagascar (127,454) and Ukraine (54,246), it said.
Europe has also lost ground, with four countries stripped of their “measles-free” status in 2018 – Albania, Czech Republic, Greece and Britain, it said. The WHO figures did not include a specific breakdown of numbers for the Americas region.
The United States has recorded 1,215 measles cases across 30 states in its worst outbreak since 1992, federal health officials said on Monday. The UK reported 953 cases in 2018 and 489 for the first six months of 2019. In the same periods, Greece reported 2,193 and 28 cases, Albania 1,466 and 475, and the Czech Republic 217 and 569.
The UK had been declared measles free in 2017.
India stood fourth among 194 countries in the number of measles cases registered between July 2018 and June 2019, according to the latest measles surveillance data released by the World Health Organization (WHO).
With 39,299 cases India bagged the fourth spot after Madagascar (150,976), Ukraine (84,394) and Philippines (45,847). However, India had the lowest measles incidence rate per million in the top 10 countries — 29.68.
