European health agency warns of measles outbreak

The number of measles cases in Europe is likely to increase in the coming months. The disease is circulating in a few European countries, and not enough people have been vaccinated against the potentially fatal disease in some areas, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) warned on Friday.

Last year, 2,361 measles infections were diagnosed in ECDC member countries, of which roughly 75 percent were reported by Romania, or 1,755 in total. That figure rose rapidly this year. This year, six people died from measles in Romania, and one person died in Ireland.

“The outbreak in Romania has been ongoing since mid-February 2023, and on 5 December 2023, the Ministry of Health declared a national measles epidemic,” the ECDC wrote. “More recent figures from the Romanian Institute of Public Health show that Romania has detected 4,679 confirmed cases between 1 January 2023 and 6 February 2024.”

Romania also had the highest per capita rates, with 92.16 infections per million inhabitants. That was followed by Liechtenstein (76.32), then Austria (20.72), Belgium (5.94), and Estonia (3.0). Austria and France also contended with their own measles outbreaks. Between 2020 and 2022, there were very few infections due to measures against the coronavirus.

The risks related to measles are particularly high unvaccinated children under the age of five, and immunocompromised people. There is a low to moderate risk of severe disease and symptoms for unvaccinated people older than five years of age who are not immunocompromised.

In the Netherlands, the measles vaccination has been included in the National Vaccination Program since 1976. Just over 80 percent of school-age children have been vaccinated against measles. A few years ago that was about 90 percent. The vaccination rate among infants has also fallen to below 90 percent.

In the Netherlands there is a measles epidemic approximately once every 10 to 15 years. The most recent epidemic was in 2013. A 17-year-old girl from Zeeland died. Last spring, a girl died from measles at the Radboud University Medical Center in Nijmegen.

Such outbreaks are particularly prevalent among population groups that do not get vaccinated. In the past, these were mainly people from Reformed Christian religious communities, who view vaccinations as a violation of their principles. In recent years there more people have grown to distrust vaccines and their usage.