Measles cases in England: January to December 2018
Updated 12 July 2019
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The total number of laboratory confirmed measles cases for with onset dates in 2018 (January to December) in England was 971 (see figure 1). This is over 3 times higher than the total for 2017 of 259 cases.
Figure 1: Number of confirmed measles cases by month of onset, England: January 2012 to December 2018
The age distribution of the cases this year shows a peak in the 1 to 4 year old age group (172 cases, 18%) with an apparent shift in age, when compared to the previous year (see figure 2). The majority (87%) of measles cases in 2018 had no recorded MMR vaccination, 59 cases (6.1%) reported one dose of measles containing vaccine and 63 cases (6.5%) reported 2 doses.
Figure 2: Age distribution of confirmed measles in England, January to December 2018, compared to 2017
The 971 cases are distributed across England, although London (40% of cases), South East (19% cases) and South West (14%) have the highest totals (table 1). There were several large outbreaks associated with cases from “hard-to-reach” populations with known low coverage.
Overall 320 cases (33%) were admitted to hospital due to measles infection; 15 of these experienced complications such as pneumonia, meningitis and respiratory failure.
Nearly 8% (74 cases) of the measles laboratory confirmed cases in 2018 acquired their infection abroad; the majority of these reported travel to Europe (42 cases,57% of importations) or Asia (24 cases, 32% of importations) where measles has been known to circulate. In 2017, 17% (46 cases) of the measles cases were associated with travel abroad, with most (35 cases, 76% of importations) associated with travel to Europe.
In February the WHO Euro release a warning following the highest number of people affected by measles in Europe in 2018: 3 times the total reported in 2017 and 15 times the record low number of people affected in 2016 [footnote 1].
Table 1: Age group and region distribution of laboratory confirmed cases of measles in England, January to December 2018
| Age group | less than 1 | 1 to 4 | 5 to 9 | 10 to 14 | 15 to 19 | 20 to 24 | 25 to 29 | 30 to 34 | >=35 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N EAST | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 14 |
| N WEST | 3 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 34 |
| YORK&HUM | 10 | 20 | 5 | 9 | 15 | 11 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 83 |
| E MIDS | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 13 |
| W MIDS | 11 | 15 | 5 | 8 | 17 | 5 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 82 |
| EASTERN | 6 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 34 |
| LONDON | 32 | 74 | 52 | 24 | 30 | 41 | 43 | 32 | 60 | 388 |
| S EAST | 14 | 19 | 12 | 17 | 32 | 15 | 17 | 14 | 44 | 184 |
| S WEST | 11 | 30 | 9 | 12 | 16 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 27 | 139 |
| Total | 90 | 172 | 93 | 74 | 126 | 93 | 97 | 69 | 157 | 971 |
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Measles in Europe: record number of both sick and immunized; Copenhagen, 7 February 2019. Available from: www.euro.who.int/en/media-centre/sections/press-releases/2019/measles-in-europe-record-number-of-both-sick-and-immunized ↩