Measles Cases In Europe Doubled In 2024, Analysis Finds

Healio (3/24, Stulpin) reports that an analysis by WHO and UNICEF “revealed that measles cases topped 127,350 across Europe in 2024, doubling the cases from 2023 and marking the highest number of measles cases reported since 1997.” More than half of those cases “required hospitalization, and preliminary data provided by WHO and UNICEF show 38 deaths were reported.” Health experts attributed the rise in measles cases “to a backsliding in immunization coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic.” Dragan Jankovic, MD, technical officer for WHO’s Vaccine-preventable Diseases and Immunization Program, stated, “Viruses do not respect borders, and the measles virus in particular is extremely contagious. Every measles outbreak is an opportunity for the virus to spread within and beyond a country or region.”