SourceThe Guardian said:Measles cases worldwide rose by 300% during the first three months of 2019 compared with the same period last year, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said, amid growing concerns over the impact of anti-vaccination campaigns, particularly spread through social media.
Measles, which is highly contagious, can be entirely prevented with a two-dose vaccine, but for some time the WHO has been warning about declining global vaccination rates.
"Preliminary global data shows that reported cases rose by 300% in the first three months of 2019, compared to the same period in 2018. This follows consecutive increases over the past two years," it said in a statement.
So far this year, 170 countries have reported 112,163 measles cases to the WHO. At this time last year, 163 countries had reported 28,124 cases.
"Spikes in case numbers have also occurred in countries with high overall vaccination coverage, including the United States," the WHO said. "The disease has spread fast among clusters of unvaccinated people."
Unicef said 98 countries reported rising numbers of measles cases in 2018 compared with 2017, including some that had eradicated the disease. Ukraine, the Philippines and Brazil had the biggest increase in numbers.
But there is also concern over Africa, which has less vaccine coverage than other regions. WHO says its Africa region had the biggest rise in cases in the last three months compared with the same time last year – a 700% increase.
Not a good outlook...
