Measles surges in UK years after flawed vaccine study
Source: Agencies |
May 21, 2013, Tuesday
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MORE than a decade ago, British parents refused to give measles shots to at least a million children because of a vaccine scare that raised the specter of autism. Now, health officials are scrambling to catch up and stop a growing epidemic of the contagious disease.
This year, the UK has had more than 1,200 cases of measles, after a record number of nearly 2,000 cases last year. The country once recorded only several dozen cases every year. It now ranks second in Europe, behind only Romania.
Last month, emergency vaccination clinics were held every weekend in Wales, the epicenter of the outbreak. Immunization drives have also started elsewhere in the country, with officials aiming to reach 1 million children aged 10 to 16.
"This is the legacy of the Wakefield scare," said Dr David Elliman, spokesman for the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, referring to a paper published in 1998 by Andrew Wakefield and colleagues.
That work suggested a link between autism and the combined childhood vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella, called the MMR. Several large scientific studies failed to find any connection, the theory was rejected by at least a dozen major UK medical groups and the paper was eventually retracted by the journal that published it.
Still, MMR immunization rates plummeted across the UK as fearful parents abandoned the vaccine - from rates over 90 percent to 54 percent.
Nearly 15 years later, the rumors about MMR are still having an impact.
Now there's "this group of older children who have never been immunized who are a large pool of infections," Elliman said.
The majority of those getting sick in the UK, including a significant number of older children and teens, have never been vaccinated.
Children hospitalized
Almost 20 of the more than 100 seriously ill children have been hospitalized and 15 have suffered complications including pneumonia and meningitis. One adult with measles has died, though it's unclear if it was the disease that killed him.
The first measles vaccines were introduced in the 1960s, which dramatically cut cases of the rash-causing illness. Since 2001, measles deaths have dropped by about 70 percent worldwide.
Globally, though, measles is still one of the leading causes of death in children under 5 and kills more than 150,000 people every year, mostly in developing countries.
Across the UK, about 90 percent of children under five are vaccinated against measles and have received the necessary two doses of the vaccine. But among children now aged 10 to 16, the vaccination rate is slightly below 50 percent in some regions.
To stop measles outbreaks, more than 95 percent of children need to be fully immunized in the UK.
This year, the UK has had more than 1,200 cases of measles, after a record number of nearly 2,000 cases last year. The country once recorded only several dozen cases every year. It now ranks second in Europe, behind only Romania.
Last month, emergency vaccination clinics were held every weekend in Wales, the epicenter of the outbreak. Immunization drives have also started elsewhere in the country, with officials aiming to reach 1 million children aged 10 to 16.
"This is the legacy of the Wakefield scare," said Dr David Elliman, spokesman for the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, referring to a paper published in 1998 by Andrew Wakefield and colleagues.
That work suggested a link between autism and the combined childhood vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella, called the MMR. Several large scientific studies failed to find any connection, the theory was rejected by at least a dozen major UK medical groups and the paper was eventually retracted by the journal that published it.
Still, MMR immunization rates plummeted across the UK as fearful parents abandoned the vaccine - from rates over 90 percent to 54 percent.
Nearly 15 years later, the rumors about MMR are still having an impact.
Now there's "this group of older children who have never been immunized who are a large pool of infections," Elliman said.
The majority of those getting sick in the UK, including a significant number of older children and teens, have never been vaccinated.
Children hospitalized
Almost 20 of the more than 100 seriously ill children have been hospitalized and 15 have suffered complications including pneumonia and meningitis. One adult with measles has died, though it's unclear if it was the disease that killed him.
The first measles vaccines were introduced in the 1960s, which dramatically cut cases of the rash-causing illness. Since 2001, measles deaths have dropped by about 70 percent worldwide.
Globally, though, measles is still one of the leading causes of death in children under 5 and kills more than 150,000 people every year, mostly in developing countries.
Across the UK, about 90 percent of children under five are vaccinated against measles and have received the necessary two doses of the vaccine. But among children now aged 10 to 16, the vaccination rate is slightly below 50 percent in some regions.
To stop measles outbreaks, more than 95 percent of children need to be fully immunized in the UK.
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