OUTBREAKS of measles across England and Wales have reached the highest levels for 18 years, leaving young adults and teenagers whose parents did not get them immunised during the 1998 MMR scare most at risk, with many taken to hospital.

Public health campaigns are now being run across affected areas to persuade older people, teenagers, university students and young adults to get themselves vaccinated. All of these groups are not only vulnerable themselves but pose a risk to babies and toddlers.

The MMR vaccine scare — now proved to have been based on unfounded claims — led to many parents not letting their children be immunised against measles.

“People can think their teenager or young adult child is not at risk but that’s not the case,” said Dr Mary Ramsay, head of immunisation at the Health Protection Agency (HPA). “If you were not vaccinated at two and you’re now 13, you’re just as much at risk as when you were younger.”

Toddlers who mixed with other children before getting their vaccination at the recommended age of 13 months have also been badly affected.

“Measles is such an infectious disease that you only need one or two people who haven’t had the vaccination to put at risk babies, toddlers and anyone else who is vulnerable, such as children with leukaemia and pregnant women who haven’t been vaccinated,” Ramsay added.

There were 2,016 confirmed cases of measles in England and Wales in 2012: the highest annual total since 1994. There were prolonged outbreaks in Sussex, where one in seven children have not been vaccinated, and in Merseyside, Heysham, Morecambe, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire.

Dr Tom Scanlon, director of public health for Brighton and Hove, said: “In years gone by, we had a lot of child deaths from measles. In the last outbreak, we had just under 50 children admitted with serious complications.”

About one in every 15 children with measles will develop serious complications. The World Health Organisation recommends a 95 per cent vaccination take-up to offer a community the best possible protection against a disease. About 82 per cent of children in Brighton and Hove had received both doses of the MMR vaccine at the end of March 2012, an improvement on the 77 per cent the year before.

“We in the public health community have to accept that some people just will never agree with vaccination, and even if — more likely when — their children catch measles, many of them will still try to justify their approach,” Scanlon added. “Measles is a very contagious disease, it has the potential to be very unpleasant, sometimes serious and occasionally fatal.” — The Guardian, London