London: There were 1,27,350 measles cases reported in Europe and Central Asia in 2024, double the number of cases reported the previous year and the highest number since 1997, according to an analysis by the World Health Organisation and UNICEF.
In a report published on Thursday, UN health experts said Romania had the most measles infections, at more than 30,000, followed by Kazakhstan, which reported 28,147 people with measles.
UNICEF said that about 40 per cent of measles infections in Europe and Central Asia were in children under 5 and that more than half of all people sickened by measles had to be hospitalised. Two doses of the measles vaccine is estimated to be 97 per cent effective in preventing the disease. Measles is among the world’s most
infectious diseases.