Measles cases in Europe tripled from 2017 to 2018

More than 80,000 people in 47 out of 53 European countries contracted measles in 2018, of which 61% were hospitalized and 72 died, said the World Health Organization.

The total number of people infected by the virus in 2018 was the highest of this decade: three times the total number reported in 2017 (23,927 cases) and 15 times the lowest record recorded in 2016 (5,373 cases).1

Although more children than ever before in the European region of WHO are vaccinated against the disease, progress in immunization is uneven from one country to the next. This leaves groups of people susceptible without protection, especially in middle-income countries, the WHO said.

Ukraine had a …