Measles: How to keep your family safe from Europe-wide outbreak

A Europe-wide measles outbreak blamed for 37 deaths has prompted questions about how families can protect their loved ones.

More than 41,000 people have been infected in the first six months of 2018 – 23 per cent higher that any annual total in the last eight years.

But experts are united on one simple solution: vaccinations.

Since 1968, there has been a safe and effective vaccine available for measles which virtually eliminates the risk of contracting the disease.

The current outbreak has hit hardest in countries where vaccination programmes are less robust and far reaching, the World Health Organisation said.

Ukraine accounts for 23,000 of the cases this year, but the virus has been able to spread to other countries with more developed health infrastructure and take root in groups who are not protected.

“It is appalling that at least 37 people have died in Europe this year from a completely preventable disease and, although no deaths have so far been reported, in England there have been over 800 cases,” said Professor Helen Bedford, from the Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health.

“MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella) is a safe, effective and readily available vaccine to prevent this highly infectious disease,” she added.

“While overall MMR uptake rates in the UK are generally high among young children, there are still pockets of lower uptake and some young people missed out on their vaccination when they were toddlers.”

It is this group of young people, born after 1998, who are of most concern to health chiefs as MMR vaccination rates collapsed in the wake of a retracted and discredited paper in The Lancet medical journal that year linking the three-in-one jab to autism.

It’s primary author, former British physician Andrew Wakefield, birthed the modern anti-vaxxer movement and now based in America has a global reach spreading scepticism about one of the most universal goods humanity has produced.

Measles, a highly contagious viral infection, is spread by close contact and causes a distinctive rash.

Without treatment it can lead to pneumonia, hepatitis, and infections of the brain and eyes which can leave victims blind or cause death.

“With a vaccine preventable disease, one case is one too many, and the numbers of measles cases so far this year is astounding,” said Dr Pauline Paterson, co-director of the Vaccine Confidence Project team at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

“Measles is a highly infectious disease that can spread rapidly and lead to serious complications – a very high vaccination coverage of 95 per cent is needed for community protection. If the coverage dips below this in certain regions, measles cases can spread and outbreaks can and are occurring.”

A decision not to vaccinate puts everyone at risk, particularly the very young who may not have had both stages of their jab.

Outbreaks in the UK have been isolated, usually linked to travel to and from hotspots on the continent.

But Public Health England has stressed it is never too late to catch up with a vaccination, and urged teenagers heading to Europe this summer, those about to start university, or anyone with concerns to see their GP and make sure they are fully protected.