International Desk: According to a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO), Europe has seen the largest increase in measles cases since 1997. In the year 2024, 127,350 cases were reported which is almost double compared to 2023. WHO Europe Regional Director Dr. Hans Henry P. "Measles is back, and that's a serious warning. If vaccination rates don't stay high, no one will be safe," Kluge said. Last year 38 people died of measles.  

Why is measles dangerous?

• This disease spreads in the air like Kovid. 
• In mild cases, fever and body rash may occur.
• While in severe cases encephalitis (inflammation of the brain), pneumonia and blindness can occur.  
• In developed countries, 1 in 1,000 or 1 in 5,000 people may die.  
• A person infected with measles can infect an average of 12-18 people
• While this number was around 8 in the Omicron variant of Kovid.  
• The WHO declared it an "imminent threat to every region" in 2022.  

This caused the outbreak.  

According to WHO Europe, measles can be almost completely prevented by vaccination. Two doses provide more than 99% protection, but not enough people are being vaccinated. Vaccination of 95% of the population is essential to control infection. In Bosnia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Romania, less than 80% of children were vaccinated in 2023. In some of these countries, this rate is less than 50%. Among them, the most affected country is Romania (30,692 cases).

Misinformation  

is also responsible for declining vaccination rates. In 2002 in Britain, former physician Andrew Wakefield falsely claimed that the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine causes autism. This claim was published in 'The Lancet' magazine, but later proved to be false and retracted.  

The WHO report clearly indicates that low vaccination rates are having dangerous consequences. If it is not taken seriously, measles can turn into a major epidemic.