Fear grows of measles epidemic in England

Health experts said todaythey were concerned measles epidemics could break out in England and Wales after fresh data showed infections were continuing to rise.

The Health Protection Agency blamed the increase on the relatively low levels of vaccination with the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) shot over the past decade after a health scare.

"The agency is concerned that we may see measles epidemics take hold," said HPA immunisation expert Mary Ramsay. "Although MMR coverage is starting to improve, we cannot stress enough that measles is serious and in some cases it can be fatal."

There were 115 cases of measles confirmed in England and Wales in November, sharply up on the 83 and 72 cases in the previous two months.

Most of the increase occurred outside London, which had its lowest monthly tally for the year (12), and was concentrated in the northwest, the West Midlands and the southeast.

To the end of November there were 1,217 cases, more than the total of 990 recorded for all of 2007.

Health bosses have begun an MMR "catch up" programme to try and identify children who have missed out on the jab and offer them another chance to have it.

By September just under 78 percent of children had received the two required doses of MMR, short of the 95 percent coverage deemed necessary to eliminate the disease.

On Wednesday researchers warned that too many children remain unvaccinated against measles for Europe to have any realistic hope of getting rid of the disease by 2010, a World Health Organisation goal.

In a study in the journal The Lancet, the researchers said there had been 12,000 measles cases in Europe in 2006 and 2007.

All but 15 percent of these cases were recorded in five countries -- Romania, Germany, Britain, Switzerland and Italy.