Measles cases in Europe and Central Asia doubled last year to the highest reported level since 1997

LONDON (AP) - There were 127,350 measles cases reported in Europe and Central Asia in 2024, double the number of cases reported the previous year and the highest number since 1997, according to an analysis by the World Health Organization and UNICEF.

In a report published on Thursday, U.N. health experts said Romania had the most measles infections, at more than 30,000, followed by Kazakhstan, which reported 28,147 people with measles.

UNICEF said that about 40% of measles infections in Europe and Central Asia were in children under 5 and that more than half of all people sickened by measles had to be hospitalized. Measles is among the world's most infectious diseases and is spread by an airborne virus.

Two doses of the measles vaccine is estimated to be 97% effective in preventing the disease, which typically infects the respiratory system and causes symptoms including fever, cough, runny nose and a rash. In serious cases, measles can cause pneumonia, encephalitis, dehydration and blindness.

"Measles is back, and it's a wake-up call,” Dr. Han Kluge, WHO's Europe director, said in a statement. “Without high vaccination rates, there is no health security."

WHO and UNICEF noted that in both Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro, fewer than 70% and 50% of children in those countries respectively have been vaccinated against measles for at least the past five years. Scientists estimate that more than 95% of the population needs to be immunized to prevent outbreaks.

After a drop in immunization coverage during the coronavirus pandemic, measles cases surged in 2023 and 2024, with vaccination rates in numerous countries still lower than what they were before COVID-19 hit. The U.N. said the number of measles cases across Europe made up one third of the approximately 359,521 infections last year.

Concerns about the safety of the measles vaccine have persisted for decades, after British physician Dr. Andrew Wakefield and colleagues published a paper in 1998 - which has long since been retracted - linking the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine to autism. No evidence for any causal link has ever been found and Wakefield had his license to practise medicine in the U.K. revoked.

British officials said last month there have been more than 200 reported cases in the U.K. and that many more are expected.

"It's never too late to get vaccinated," said Ben Kaastan-Dabush, an assistant professor in global health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who warned that misinformation can unfortunately travel rapidly. "Even a small decline in vaccine uptake can have devastating consequences."

In the U.S., measles outbreaks in Texas and New Mexico are continuing to spread and are now up to 250 cases, including two deaths in people who weren't vaccinated.