More than 56,000 cases of measles recorded in Europe and Central Asia from January to March 2024

This is barely 5,000 cases fewer than in the whole of 2023, when 61,070 cases and 13 deaths were reported, across 41 countries.

A number of cases which arouses concern from the World Health Organization (WHO). A total of 56,634 measles cases and four deaths were recorded in 45 of the 53 member countries of the WHO Europe region, which extends to Central Asia, in the first three months of 2024, figures show. of the organization communicated Tuesday, May 28. This is barely 5,000 fewer than for the whole of 2023, when 61,070 cases and 13 deaths were reported across 41 countries.

“Even a single case of measles should be an urgent call to action”encouraged WHO Director Europe, Hans Kluge, quoted in a press release. “I urge all countries to take immediate action, even when overall vaccination coverage is high, to vaccinate vulnerable people, fill immunity gaps and thereby prevent the virus from taking hold in any community “he added.

A highly contagious viral disease, measles is often benign, but can cause serious respiratory and neurological complications. It mainly affects children, but not only. In 2023, almost half of cases involved children under five.

“This reflects the accumulation of children who have not received routine vaccinations against measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases during the pandemic [de Covid-19]“noted the WHO in a press release, deploring the presence of cases in 27 of the 33 members where the virus had been eliminated.

Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Russia are the most affected countries with respectively more than 36,000, 28,000 and 18,000 cases between April 2023 and March 2024. With 1,008 cases, the United Kingdom is, ahead of Austria (456 cases) the country in Western Europe where the resurgence of the disease, considered to have been eliminated in 2021, is the most obvious.