Measles surge

The number of measles cases across Europe has surged alarmingly during the first half of this year, according to new figures from the World Health Organization.

It blames the outbreaks on low rates of MMR vaccinations.

More than 41,000 cases of measles were reported across Europe in the year to June. That compares with only around 24,000 cases in the whole of 2017 – a figure that was itself higher than in any other year in the past decade.

In England, there have been 828 confirmed cases this year, up from 259 cases last year. So far, 37 people in Europe have died of measles in 2018; that compares to 38 deaths in 2017.

Experts are worried in particular about the people they call the “Wakefield cohort” – a generation of adults whose parents chose not to vaccinate them, owing to the discredited doctor Andrew Wakefield’s false claim in 1998 that MMR jab was linked to autism.