Measles in the UK: the "elimination status" is lost



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By NewsDesk @infectiousdiseasenews

Officials from Public Health England (PHE) announced yesterday that the UK had lost its status of measles elimination to the WHO for several reasons.

In 2017, the World Health Organization declared that the United Kingdom had eliminated measles. However, this disposal status has not been maintained.

WHO defines the elimination of measles as the absence of measles in circulation, in the presence of high vaccination coverage, as well as effective systems to identify cases of the disease. In countries that have eliminated measles, measles can still occur, but these will be isolated cases with limited spread within the community.

However, in 2018, the number of confirmed cases of measles has increased significantly: 991 cases have been confirmed in England and Wales, compared to 284 in 2017. In addition, the same strain of measles virus (called B3 Dublin) has been detected. more than 12 months in 2017 and 2018. On this basis, WHO determined that the UK could no longer be considered "eliminated" and that measles transmission had been reestablished.

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Measles remains endemic in many countries around the world and there are currently several major epidemics in countries in Europe where the use of MMR vaccine has been low.

While coverage of the first dose in the UK has reached the WHO target of 95% for five-year-olds, coverage for the second dose is 87.4%.

In fact, PHE recently reported that one in five children over five years may not have been fully aware of some routine immunizations, with this figure reaching about one in four children in London.

More specifically, more than 30,000 approximately 5-year-old children (about 1 in 19) may still need to receive their first dose of MMR, which leaves them significantly more at risk compared to fully immunized students AND approximately 90,000 children approximately 5 years (or 1 in 7) in England may still need to receive their second dose of MMR vaccine. Nearly 30,000 of these children are in London, which means that about one in four beginners in the capital's primary school does not enjoy the full protection offered by the MMR vaccine.

Dr. Mary Ramsay, Head of Immunization PHE, said: "We are particularly concerned about the increased risk of measles in children. We continue to see epidemics of the disease occurring in communities across the country, many related to European country visits during the summer holidays.

"The vast majority of people affected are not fully immunized and vaccine-preventable diseases are spreading more easily in schools. It is essential that children receive maximum protection when they start attending other children at the beginning of their schooling. "

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