WALES is well-placed to maintain control of measles, says Public Health Wales, despite a change in status for the UK on transmission of the virus.

In 2016, the UK was certified that endemic measles transmission had been eliminated, but the World Health Organization Europe has rescinded that status after a steep rise in confirmed cases in 2018. The amount more than tripled, to 991, from 284 in 2017.

More than half were in London and the south east of England. Wales has seen only small numbers of confirmed cases in the past three years - 21 last year, 18 in 2017, and 15 in 2016. There have been five so far this year.

Dr Richard Roberts, head of Public Health Wales' vaccine preventable disease programme, said this is "due to high uptake of two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine in Wales".

“Latest uptake of MMR vaccine for dose one is 94.6 per cent by the second birthday and 97.2 per cent at the fifth birthday. For dose two at five years of age it is 92 per cent. These figures are for January-March 2019,” he said.

Where there have been small outbreaks of measles in Wales in the last three years, they have been due to imported disease. But none of the outbreaks exceeded 21 confirmed cases or lasted longer than a few months.

To help maintain measles elimination in Wales, Public Health Wales and NHS organisations have developed a comprehensive action plan.

This includes the social media campaigns Back to School - to remind parents of the importance of immunisation including MMR - and Starting University, targeting first time college students and school leavers to stress the importance of the MMR and MenACWY vaccines. The latter protects against four strains of the meningococcal bacteria that cause meningitis and blood poisoning (septicaemia);

Measles is one of the most infectious of all diseases and still claims lives across Europe and the rest of the world.

All children should have received two doses of MMR before they start school. Anyone born from 1970 onwards who missed out on one or both MMR vaccinations are urged to contact their GP to arrange to catch up. This is especially important for those travelling to areas of Europe, which may be affected by measles outbreaks.

A list of free routine vaccines offered to children and young people in Wales can be found at https://www.nhsdirect.wales.nhs.uk/livewell/vaccinations/

If you are not sure whether you or your child are up to date with routine childhood vaccines, contact your GP surgery, health visitor, school nurse or school immunisation team.