Measles cases rise 200% in European region amid global surge, WHO says

Measles cases have increased by more than 200 per cent in the European region in the last year amid a global surge, according to a new annual report.

There were more than 306,000 cases in the region, which includes parts of central Asia, in 2023, up from around 99,700 in 2022.

The joint report from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found there were 10.3 million cases of measles globally last year.

This represented a 20 per cent increase in worldwide cases from 2022, the data from WHO and CDC shows.

Measles is a highly contagious virus, mostly affecting children, but can be prevented with two vaccine doses. It can lead to health complications and death.

Coverage of 95 per cent or more of a country or community is necessary to prevent measles outbreaks.

‘Stalled immunisation’

The new report estimates that globally just 83 per cent of children received a first dose of a measles vaccine last year and just under three-quarters received a second dose.

“The surge in cases is being driven by stalled global immunisation coverage,” Dr Natasha Crowcroft, senior technical advisor for measles and rubella at WHO, said at a press conference on Thursday.

“Every single country in the world has access to measles vaccine so there’s no reason why any child should be infected with the disease and no child should die from measles,” she added.

Vaccination has prevented 60.3 million measles deaths since 2000, according to the report, which found that an estimated 22 million children missed out on their first dose of a measles vaccine in 2023.

“Most of these children live in low-income countries and countries with fragile, conflict-affected or vulnerable settings where the risk of death from measles is at its highest,” said Crowcroft.

What is the situation in Europe?

“There was a really big increase in the European region, but it went from just under 100,000 cases to just over 300,000 cases,” said Crowcroft.

“So even though it was an over 200 per cent increase, the absolute numbers are much smaller,” she added.

This was due to stalled vaccination coverage and an increase in the number of epidemics, experts said.

The report shows that the number of cases in Europe remains relatively low compared to other regions.

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According to a recent report from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), 30 European Union and European Economic Area states reported a total of more than 18,000 measles cases between September 2023 and August 2024.

Romania had the highest number of measles cases in the EU, with more than 14,000 reported cases during that period.

Health organisations had previously warned of an “alarming rise” in measles cases in Europe due to sub-optimal vaccine coverage.

Globally, the European region, which includes parts of central Asia, still has the second-lowest number of measles cases after the Americas.

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The region with the highest number of cases was Africa with an estimated 4.8 million cases, which also had nearly half of all “large and disruptive outbreaks”.

Southeast Asia had the second-highest number of measles cases with an estimated 2.9 million cases.