PUBLIC bodies should strive to eliminate measles from Wales through a policy of "aggressive control" of cases imported into or transmitted within the country, says a report.

And public health law could be used if necessary in future, to help minimise the spread of the virus.

Recommendations for controlling measles in the future are laid out in a Public Health Wales report on the outbreak which hit the Swansea area and other parts of Wales earlier this year.

And a key proposal is "the exclusion of unimmunised close contacts of probable cases of measles from school, child care and other child-centred social settings until the infectious period is over."

"Where necessary this should be backed by a formal request to co-operate under public health law."

The 58-page report - available at www.publichealthwales.wales.nhs.uk - also proposes that "assertive efforts should be made to target teenagers."

The Welsh Government is also being urged to commission a review looking at the issue of teenagers not being immunised, reviewing scientific evidence for what works and identifying areas for further research, if needed.

More than 1,200 cases were recorded during the outbreak, which lasted from late 2012 into June this year. The majority were in Swansea, where the outbreak originated and the surrounding area, but 130 cases were reported in Gwent, several times the number in the area for the whole of 2012.

“The report into the outbreak shows how four cases of measles contracted by children from Wales visiting a holiday camp in England became more than 1,200 cases in the space of eight months," said Dr Marion Lyons, director of health protection for Public Health Wales.

“The only guarantee against catching measles is receiving the full two doses of the MMR vaccine, and while we have 30,000 children and young people still needing vaccination, we can’t assume we will not see further outbreaks of this scale.

“With 88 people being admitted to hospital and one dying during this outbreak, it’s clear that measles is a serious illness and no parent or young person should believe it cannot happen to them.”

More than 76,000 MMR vaccinations were carried out Wales-wide in response to the outbreak, including almost 15,500 in Gwent. Outside of the Abertawe Bro Morgannwg Health Board area - which includes Swansea - this was the largest amount of MMR jabs given.

Across Wales, nearly 21,500 of these jabs were given to 10-18 year-olds, including more than 5,000 in Gwent.

This age group was targeted specifically because large numbers within it missed out on one or both MMR jabs in the aftermath of the now discredited scare over its safety in the late 1990s.