Colchester records measles cases this year, parents urged to vaccinate

Measles have emerged across every region in England due to low up-take of the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine.

In 2017, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared that the UK had eliminated measles after seeing no measles transmissions for 12 months due to the high coverage of the MMR vaccines.

But now according to the UKHSA (UK Health Security Agency), an additional 56 confirmed cases have been recorded in the last week alone with six in the east of England region.

In Colchester district, there have been three suspected cases of measles in the last week with a total of four confirmed cases this year.

Meanwhile in Tendring district, there were two suspected cases of measles in the last week and a total of four confirmed cases this year.

However, in the Braintree and Maldon districts there have been no suspected cases this week and no confirmed cases at all this year.

Catch-up - Children need two MMR vaccinations at age 1 and 3 to be fully protected (Image: Web)

There have been 571 of recorded measles cases since October, 2023 according to UKSHA data, with 385 of those cases coming from the West Midlands.

The West Midlands area is considered as driving the outbreak of measles, with GPs in Birmingham diagnosing more than three cases a day on average – far higher than any another area.

Measles spread when an infected person coughs or sneezes, with the first symptoms being similar to a cold.

A high temperature, a runny or blocked nose, sneezing, a cough and red, sore and watery eyes are all signs.

A rash may appear a few days after the cold-like symptoms and small white spots can also appear in the mouth.

In rare circumstances, measles can cause pneumonia, blindness, seizures and the severe brain disease meningitis.

The second national hotspot is London which has all ten of the lowest council MMR vaccination rates with children in Hackney having the lowest uptake in the country at only 60 per cent.

While in North Essex, the MMR vaccine uptake is closer to the target rate of 95 per cent with the Colchester, Braintree, Tendring and Maldon districts all at 94.2 per cent.

Worldwide, WHO estimates that 56 million deaths were averted between 2000 and 2021 due to the MMR vaccine but in 2021, an estimated 128,000 measles deaths could have further been prevented. 

Dr Mary Ramsay of the UKSHA, said to BBC Radio 4: “Just because it’s not in your region yet, it will come eventually and it will spread very, very quickly, so you might not have time once the outbreak starts.

“We’re worried about everywhere where there are unvaccinated children."

For more information and help about measles visit the NHS website here.