Category Archives: MMR

Nearly 500 confirmed cases of measles across 19 US states, says CDC

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Government reports largest outbreak is in Texas, and 70 people across US needing hospitalization

The federal government reported on Friday that there have been 483 confirmed cases of measles across 20 US jurisdictions so far this year, with the largest outbreak in Texas, and 70 people across the nation needing to be hospitalized.

That compares with 285 cases of measles in the US for the whole of 2024. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported on its website that 97% of the confirmed cases this year so far involved people who were unvaccinated or whose vaccine status was unknown – and 75% of the cases this year have affected people under the age of 19.

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More US states report measles cases amid vaccine misinformation

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Ohio, Maryland and Alabama among states to report new cases, with 378 confirmed in first few months of 2025

More US states are reporting measles cases as the Texas outbreak expands, surpassing last year’s total, amid vaccine misinformation and hesitancy.

The Texas outbreak could take a year to get under control, one health official said – during which time it may spread to more states. Yet the parents of the six-year-old girl who died of measles in Texas have spoken against measles vaccination as misinformation continues to proliferate, including from figures such as the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr.

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War is lead cause behind huge drop in global vaccinations, UN warns

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Vaccine misinformation has added to crisis of collapsed healthcare and poor nutrition, Unicef and WHO report

Conflicts have hampered efforts to vaccinate children across the world, health leaders have warned, as new figures showed about 14.5 million children had not received a single immunisation dose.

More than half of the children live in countries where armed conflicts or other humanitarian crises had created fragile and vulnerable situations, according to data from the UN children’s agency, Unicef, and the World Health Organization.

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WHO issues measles warning as yearly cases in Europe rise more than 30-fold

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UN agency calls for ‘urgent vaccination efforts’ in region to prevent further spread of disease

The World Health Organization has issued an urgent warning over measles after an “alarming” 30-fold rise in cases across Europe.

The UN agency reported an enormous increase in numbers affected by the disease, which it said had “accelerated in recent months”. More than 30,000 cases were reported between January and October last year, compared with 941 cases in the whole of 2022 – a more than 30-fold rise.

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Thousands of children at risk as vaccination rates fall in England

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Health officials urge parents to ensure children have routine jabs amid fears of measles outbreak

Thousands of children face an increased risk of catching deadly diseases in England, and significant outbreaks are likely, child health experts have warned, as “alarming” figures show vaccination levels have plunged across virtually all jabs.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is urging parents and guardians to ensure their children have received the routine jabs against potentially serious diseases, such as polio and measles, after official data revealed a drop in vaccination rates.

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Kenya in rush to vaccinate 4m children as measles cases surge

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WHO reports measles outbreaks in eight African countries amid huge fall-off in jabs during Covid

Kenya has restarted its vaccination programme in an effort to tackle the re-emergence of measles, which has surged in the country during the Covid restrictions.

A 10-day campaign against highly contagious measles and rubella has begun to target 4 million children aged nine months to five years in 22 of Kenya’s 47 counties where outbreaks are highest.

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Measles cases hit 20-year high as Covid disrupts vaccinations, report finds

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Number of people dying from the disease also increased by 50% since 2016, according to data from the WHO and CDC

The number of measles cases worldwide surged to nearly 900,000 in 2019, the highest figure in more than two decades, underlining a significant U-turn in global progress to combat the disease.

Data from the World Health Organization (WHO) and US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that the number of people dying from measles also increased by 50% since 2016, with an estimated 207,500 deaths in 2019 alone.

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A rise in deaths from preventable diseases must not be part of Covid-19’s legacy

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The world may be faced with a new foe, but old ones lie in wait if lockdowns disrupt existing vaccination programmes

In The Conjurer, a 16th-century painting by Dutch artist Hieronymus Bosch, a spectator stands in rapt attention as a magic trick is performed. He bends forward, wholly absorbed by the spectacle, blissfully unaware of the man behind him casually picking his pocket.

As we mark World Immunisation Week 2020, all eyes are on Covid-19. Across the globe, researchers have responded with remarkable speed and ingenuity. More than 100 vaccine candidates are in development, and several human clinical trials have begun. Though significant hurdles lie ahead, we can be optimistic that a vaccine will emerge from the fray.

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142,000 died from measles last year, WHO estimates

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Number of cases reported so far this year is three times higher than at same stage in 2018

The worldwide surge in deadly measles outbreaks is showing no sign of abating, with nearly 10 million cases and 142,000 deaths last year, according to new estimates, and three times more cases reported so far this year than at the same stage in 2018.

Most of those dying are small children, and thousands more suffer harm including pneumonia and brain damage. New scientific evidence shows survivors are at greater risk soon afterwards because their immune system is impaired.

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Samoa measles epidemic kills 20

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Children under five account for all but one of deaths as 1,644 suspected cases are identified

Deaths related to measles, mostly among small children, have more than tripled to 20 in the past week on the Pacific island of Samoa, the government has said, eight days after declaring a state of emergency over the outbreak.

The island state of 200,000, located south of the equator and half way between Hawaii and New Zealand, declared a measles epidemic late in October after the first deaths.

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Children bear the brunt as the world’s biggest measles epidemic sweeps Congo

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Children under the age of five account for 90% of deaths as disease claims 5,000 lives in less than a year

More than 5,000 people, mostly children, have been killed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in what is currently the world’s biggest measles epidemic.

Measles, which is preventable through vaccination, has spread to all 26 provinces of the country, which is also battling a 15-month-long Ebola epidemic.

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Samoa declares state of emergency over deadly measles epidemic

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At least six deaths have been linked to the outbreak, in a nation where vaccination rates are alarmingly low

Samoa has closed all schools and cracked down on public gatherings as it enters a state of emergency over the deadly measles outbreak spreading across the Pacific islands.

The island state of just 200,000, halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand, announced the state of emergency on Saturday after declaring a measles epidemic late in October, when the first deaths were reported.

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German parliament approves compulsory measles vaccinations

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Bundestag backs law that will fine parents up to €2,500 if children are not inoculated

Germany’s parliament has voted to make measles vaccinations compulsory for children, in response to a global rise in cases of the disease.

Parents who refuse to get their children inoculated face fines of up to €2,500 (£2,140) and a likely ban from nursery or school.

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Experience: I nearly died of measles

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The doctors hadn’t seen such a bad case. But I don’t blame my mother for not having me vaccinated

I was watching a film with my boyfriend, Marty, one Saturday night last April when I felt an itchy rash on my neck. Then I started getting a dry cough, like a cat coughing up a furball. Marty Googled “dry cough” and “rash” and measles came up. But I didn’t have white spots in my mouth, which are common with measles, so we didn’t think anything of it. “You’ve got measles!” Marty joked. We laughed about it.

Mum is a nurse and, in the mid-80s, when I was due to have the measles vaccine, parents often didn’t take it up. This was before the MMR vaccine – and before the discredited doctor, Andrew Wakefield, wrongly linked it to autism – but even then, some parents worried about side-effects. The thalidomide scandal was still fresh in people’s minds. I was aware I hadn’t been vaccinated, but never thought in a million years I would catch measles; it wasn’t even on my radar.

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Lives at risk from surge in measles across Europe, experts warn

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Measles kills 37 in first half of 2019 as number of cases tops figure for whole of last year

The dramatic surge in measles across Europe is putting lives at risk, experts have said, as official figures showed the number of cases in the first half of 2019 outstripped that for the whole of last year.

Data released by the World Health Organization (WHO) revealed nearly 90,000 cases and 37 deaths were reported across 48 of the 53 countries in the WHO European region in the first six months of 2019.

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Stall in vaccination rates putting children at risk, says Unicef

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Agency blames war, inequality and complacency for 20 million children missing immunisation

A dangerous stagnation in vaccination rates is putting children at risk of preventable diseases around the world, the UN children’s agency has warned, blaming conflict, inequality and complacency.

One in 10 children, totalling 20 million globally, missed out on basic immunisation against the life-threatening infections of measles, diphtheria and tetanus last year, says Unicef.

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Nearly 170m under-10s unvaccinated against measles worldwide

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Figure includes half a million in UK, as Unicef warns the disease could ‘spread like wildfire’

Nearly 170 million children in the world under the age of 10, including half a million in the UK and 2.5 million in the US, are unprotected from measles in the face of growing outbreaks of the disease, Unicef is warning.

More than 21 million children a year are not vaccinated against one of the most infectious organisms in existence, says the UN body. Between 2010 and 2017, an estimated 169 million children missed the first of the recommended two-dose regime.

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Measles cases up 300% worldwide in 2019, says WHO

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Data for first three months adds to concerns over impact of anti-vaccination campaigns

Measles cases worldwide rose by 300% during the first three months of 2019 compared with the same period last year, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said, amid growing concerns over the impact of anti-vaccination campaigns, particularly spread through social media.

Measles, which is highly contagious, can be entirely prevented with a two-dose vaccine, but for some time the WHO has been warning about declining global vaccination rates.

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Shock rise in global measles outbreaks ‘disastrous’ for children, UN warns

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Unicef calls for improved vaccination as study shows Ukraine, Brazil and the Philippines among 10 worst affected countries

Cases of childhood measles are surging to shocking levels around the globe, led by 10 countries that account for three-quarters of the rise.

Amid warnings of “disastrous consequences” for children if the disease continues to spread unchecked, a worldwide survey by the UN children’s agency, Unicef, said 98 countries around the globe reported a rise in measles cases in 2018 compared with 2017.

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