The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has recently warned of increased numbers of measles cases in the first quarter of 2008: more than 1300 cases have been reported this year compared with 800 in the same quarter last year. This is a serious blow to the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) goal of eliminating measles by 2010.
With the up and coming Euro 2008 football Championship, recent outbreaks in both Switzerland and Austria (the host countries) are cause for concern as millions of potentially unvaccinated people will be traveling to and from this area.
The ECDC warned that unvaccinated people, particularly children and young adults, are especially at risk. The necessary vaccination rate for elimination of a contagious disease is 95%. Very few countries have in fact reached this figure. With the introduction of the MMR (Measles Mumps and Rubella) vaccine in the early nineties, there has been a huge reduction in incidence of the highly contagious measles virus however the recent increase in infections suggests a reverse of the trend and increasingly lower rates of population vaccinated.
As a result of these figures the ECDC has reiterated its calls for higher vaccination rates otherwise there is a potential risk group of around 3 million people.
For further information
For data on measles cases please visit the EUVAC website Information on vaccines in Europe from Eurosurveillance WHO information on Measles European Immunization Week
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