Outbreak of measles spreads as new cases of killer Victorian disease detected in England – is your area affected?

A MEASLES outbreak has been declared in England.

Two young people in Leicester have been confirmed as having the highly infectious disease within the last three weeks, local health authorities confirmed.

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Rob Howard, Leicester's director of public health, has urged parents to protect their families by ensuring they are up to date with the MMR jabs.

He said: "We have recently had two confirmed cases of measles in the city; one case is a university student, and the other is a school student."

Neither had the MMR vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps and rubella.

Mr Howard added: "The best way to protect yourself and your family is to have the MMR vaccination.

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"Anyone who hasn't already had two doses should contact their GP surgery for an appointment to get vaccinated."

Cardiff has also been struck by an outbreak of the viral infection, with officials reporting seven new cases over the past six weeks.

Dr Virginia Ashman, a local GP in Leicester, said: "If you have had measles or were born before 1970, it is highly likely that you have a good level of immunity from measles already.

"We particularly want to encourage vaccination in young children and women of childbearing age.

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"The MMR vaccination is not given in pregnancy, and so the best way to protect young babies from measles is to receive antibodies from their mother until they are old enough to be vaccinated themselves."

MMR vaccination uptake is at a 12-year low, separate figures show.

This year, only 85 per cent of five-year-olds are fully vaccinated with the MMR jab.

At least 95 per cent of people need to be vaccinated for herd immunity, according to the World Health Organisation.

Measles is a highly infectious disease, spreading quickly from person to person, especially in schools.

It can sometimes cause pneumonia or even death in the most severe cases.

It is so contagious that a child who has it will infect up to nine out of 10 children around them if none of them were vaccinated.

Several other nasty bugs are doing the rounds, including respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and scarlet fever.

Is my area affected by measles?

The Notification of Infectious Diseases report (), which tracks suspected infectious disease cases in England and Wales, showed cases were rising across both England and Wales.

There were 481 suspected infections between July and October 22 - over double the 222 cases seen during the same period in 2022, the government data revealed.

Its most recent update showed 26 cases of measles in the week ending October 29, two of which came from the East Midlands.

London is one of the hardest-hit areas in the UK within the last week - with eight positive tests so far.

The West Midlands comes next, with five suspected cases, followed by Wales with five.

The East of England, East Midlands and Yorkshire and Humber reported two cases each.

While the North East and North West both reported just one infection.

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The South West and South East have reported no infections within the last seven days.