Manchester has among highest suspected cases of disease that's 'one of the world's most infectious'

Manchester has the second highest number of suspected measles cases anywhere in the country so far this year. The figures come amid new warnings from a Greater Manchester GP, who says 'we have seen how it can quickly increase when there is complacency around getting the MMR vaccination'.

More than 1,000 cases of measles have been confirmed by lab tests in England so far this year. That is more than triple the 362 cases seen all last year and the biggest outbreak in more than a decade, according to data from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).

The latest outbreak is thought to have started last October in Birmingham. Since then 580 cases have been confirmed in the West Midlands. But there have been clusters of infections in every region of England – including the north west and Manchester.

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Since January, there have been over 5,000 notifications of possible measles cases in England. GPs in Birmingham have seen more suspected cases than anywhere else, with 352 so far this year, including 12 in the latest week. Manchester is next with 123, then Leicester (119), Wandsworth (95), and Coventry (91).

The UKHSA blames the spread on low take-up of the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine in parts of the country. More than one in 10 children in Birmingham, the area where the outbreak is thought to have started, had not been vaccinated (88.1%).

But there has been success in Greater Manchester on this score. In 2023, MMR vaccine uptake was at an all-time low, with 17,344 jabs given out from January 1 to March 31 2023. Yet thanks to Greater Manchester’s MMR vaccine drive, 40% more vaccines (8,680) have been administered in the first quarter of 2024 –