An "almost entirely preventable" measles outbreak has seen cases of the disease continue to surge across parts of the UK.
Health experts have blamed vaccine hesitancy for the recent spike in cases, with recent figures showing 1,603 suspected cases of measles in England and Wales reported to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) in 2023. That is more than double the 735 cases in 2022 and more than quadruple the 360 suspected cases reported in 2021.
Cases have continued to surge into 2024, with 64 suspected cases in the first week of January alone.
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Of recent cases, the West Midlands has been hit hardest, where the UKHSA says cases are “rising every day". The most recent data shows that 27 of 64 cases reported to the UKHSA so far this month were traced to the West Midlands, the majority (22) to Birmingham.
Between the start of last year and the end of the first week of 2024, the UKHSA received 71 notifications of suspected cases of measles in Birmingham, more than anywhere else in England and Wales. Liverpool had 32, the fourth highest in England, with Hillingdon and Brent having seen 40 and 33 reported suspected cases, respectively.
These figures show the number of statutory notices that GPs are required to send to the UKHSA, alerting health authorities to outbreaks of certain infectious diseases such as measles. Unvaccinated children who come into contact with the disease are being advised to stay at home for 21 days.
The rise in cases has been blamed on vaccine hesitancy, with uptake of the MMR vaccine – which protects against measles, as well as mumps and rubella – below the 95.0% target in England. Nationally, 92.5% of children had received at least one dose of the MMR vaccine by the age of five in 2022-23, down from 93.4% the previous year and the lowest percentage uptake in the last decade.
But rates vary wildly across the UK. Only the North East had vaccination rates above the national target (95.5%) last year. In Liverpool 82.1% of eligible children received an MMR vaccine in 2023.
You can see the suspected cases and the vaccine rate where you live using our interactive map above.
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