Low vaccination rates blamed for measles cases

LONDON – After years of decline, measles is on the rise in Europe, according to a new report released Thursday.

As of October, European health officials reported more than 26,000 measles cases this year and nine deaths. That’s a threefold increase in cases from the same time period in 2007, said the World Health Organization.

France accounted for about 14,000 cases, mainly in children older than five and in young adults.

Other big outbreaks of the highly-contagious disease have been identified in Spain, Romania, Macedonia, and Uzbekistan. So far, measles has killed nine people in Europe and hospitalized thousands of others. The report was published Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“We are seeing a surge of cases much larger than we’ve seen in the past five or six years,” said Rebecca Martin, immunization program manager for WHO’s Europe office in Copenhagen. Measles cases had been dropping for years, but began to increase sharply in late 2009.

Martin said the epidemic was fueled mainly by low vaccination rates and noted about half the cases were in people older than 15.

“Over the years, people who haven’t been vaccinated are now giving the virus a big opportunity to spread,” Martin said.

More cases in Europe have also meant spillover elsewhere. The U.S. has 205 cases this year – the most in a decade – and virtually all are linked to other regions.