UK issues measles warning to holidaymakers as cases surge in Europe
Health experts have warned measles cases could potentially rise in the UK this summer due to outbreaks in popular holiday destinations in Europe.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said that cases in Europe had reached more than 127,000, their highest level in almost three decades, last year. With outbreaks already documented in France, Italy, Spain and Germany, the organisation raised the alarm that people might bring back the contagious disease to England after travelling this summer.
The health authority warned that declining rates of childhood vaccinations - including the Measles Mumps and Rubella jab - in England means more children are at risk of the disease.
It urged families planning for their summer holidays to check their vaccination status before travelling, and to make sure particularly that they had had two doses of the MMR vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps and rubella.
Measles, a highly infectious disease, has a number of cold and flu-like symptoms, with many infected people developing a rash. On rare occasions, it can lead to serious complications such as meningitis and brain swelling, which can lead to long-term disabilities or even death.
UKHSA consultant epidemiologist Dr Vanessa Saliba said: 'It's essential that everyone, particularly parents of young children, check all family members are up to date with two MMR doses, especially if you are travelling this summer for holidays or visiting family'.
'Measles cases are picking up again in England and outbreaks are happening in Europe and many countries with close links to the UK.
'Measles spreads very easily and can be a nasty disease, leading to complications like ear and chest infections and inflammation of the brain, with some children tragically ending up in hospital and suffering life-long consequences.
'Nobody wants this for their child and it's not something you want to experience when away on holiday.
'The MMR vaccine is the best way to protect yourself and your family from measles.
'It is never too late to catch up, if you're not sure if any of your family are up to date, check their Red Book or contact your GP practice. Don't put it off and regret it later.'
Not only are cases rising in Europe, health experts have warned there continue to be pockets of cases in England, particularly in the capital.
New figures from the UKHSA show that in England there were 109 cases of measles confirmed in April and 86 in May, with most cases among unvaccinated children. There have been some cases among unvaccinated young people and adults.
Half of the cases in the last four weeks were in London, with outbreaks also seen in the North West and the West Midlands, according to the report.
Dr Amanda Doyle, from NHS England, said: 'The recent increase in cases seen in England and Europe should act as an important reminder to ensure your child is protected.
'MMR jabs are provided free as part of the NHS routine immunisation programme – and I would encourage all parents to act on invites or check vaccination records if they think they may have missed their child's vaccination.'
The health authority has said that it is 'concerned that more outbreaks may occur again on a larger scale this summer as families with unvaccinated children and adults travel to countries where there are outbreaks'.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) recently reported that Romania, Pakistan, India, Thailand, Indonesia and Nigeria currently have among the largest number of measles cases worldwide.
The UKHSA said that the decline in uptake of childhood vaccinations during the past decade means that 'many thousands of children are left unprotected'.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
21 minutes ago
- BBC News
Several US Jolly rancher sweets unsafe to eat, FSA says
A number of products from a brand of US sweets are "unsafe to eat" and contain ingredients which could increase the risk of cancer and cause damage to DNA, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) has businesses and consumers are being urged to stop buying and selling the Jolly Ranchers products, owned by US company FSA says they contain chemical compounds - mineral oil aromatic hydrocarbons (MOAH) and mineral oil saturated hydrocarbons (MOSH) - which are "not compliant with UK laws".The products pose a safety risk if consumed regularly over time but there is "no immediate cause for concern, as [the] food safety risk is low", the agency adds. In a food alert published on Wednesday evening, the FSA said: "MOAH can cause damage to DNA and has the potential to increase the risk of cancer, particularly if consumed in high quantities over a prolonged period of time."MOAH is a genotoxic carcinogen, therefore no exposure is without risk to human health."MOAH and MOSH are used in confectionary to prevent stickiness and create a glossy to the agency, The Hershey Company has been working with the UK government body to remove the affected Jolly Rancher products from the UK market since 2024, but some businesses in Britain have continued to import the affected products are: Jolly Rancher Hard Candy, Jolly Rancher 'Misfits' Gummies, Jolly Rancher Hard Candy Fruity 2 in 1, and Jolly Ranchers Berry food agency is advising people who have any of the listed products to not eat them and dispose of them at home. If consumers have any concerns, they are being asked to notify the Trading Standards department or environmental health department in the local authority they made the purchase agency said it was asking enforcement authorities to make "immediate contact" with businesses which had been supplied with or received any of the products, and take action to ensure they were withdrawn from the market.
Telegraph
30 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Tourist hordes are destroying my beloved Notting Hill
We have to repaint our house in Notting Hill. (Bear with me. This will not be paint drying, I promise.) When we bought it in 1992, it was a splotchy pink, like drying plaster, as was the one next door. These houses have always matched, the only two on the quiet street. When I was at secondary school in Hammersmith, I'd cycle past them every day, having dragged my bike from the festering bin cupboard in the basement of my mother's flat on the corner of Ladbroke Grove. I'd hurtle down Elgin Crescent and would always look up at these two houses on the rise, surrounded by communal gardens on all sides. Their setting was operatic, romantic, and unattainable. 'I will live there one day,' a voice in my head would tell me, aged 16. Fast forward 10 years, and I am pregnant with my first child, and living in a bijou blue-painted cottage in Hillgate Village behind Notting Hill Gate tube station with my soon-to-be husband, and house-hunting. He drives me to Clapham, and Camberwell, and explains how much bang we will get for our buck if we leave Notting Hill. He drives me to a fine townhouse on the common with a 'wealth of period features'. My only knowledge of Clapham, Balham, Stockwell or Kennington was going to friends' house parties there, an experience always tinged with that anxiety that no cabbie would go south of the river after midnight, and panic that I couldn't afford a black cab anyway (I should say now that my son rents in Clapham and loves it and most of my day is spent sending him links to starter properties in Ladbroke Grove which he refuses to acknowledge). We drove back north in silence. I was being entitled and obstinate. I am entitled and obstinate. In fact, I think it was during that drive that I made my position clear: I'm sure there were wonderful houses all over London, I said, but he should know that there were only three streets I was prepared to live in: Elgin Crescent, Lansdowne Road and Clarendon Road, all in W11. It all sounds beyond spoilt written down. But I wanted to remain as close as possible to my mother, who had Parkinson's disease. I knew this decision – where to buy the family house – would be life-defining. It was like Eminem's Lose Yourself. I knew I had one shot to seize everything I had ever wanted in one moment of house purchase. My husband has never forgotten this little speech, as I had no money and wasn't buying the house and he was (my sole contribution was the baby, and then the Aga, if not in that order). 'All was quiet on the western front until that film' And then this house came up – from where I write this now. One of the pink pair. There was a printing press in the basement. It was falling down, and uninsurable until it was underpinned. It was beyond our budget. But we (by that I mean 'he') pushed the boat out and bought it. It was not so much manifestation, I think, or my magical thinking – it was determination. That was 1992. We camped in my mother-in-law's flat (in Lansdowne Road, so that was OK) while it was being done up and had the baby there and moved in some time the year after. We moved out for the underpinning and had two more babies and all was quiet on the western front until that film. In 1999, Notting Hill the movie came out, and life has never been the same since. It didn't help that Hugh Grant jumped over the garden gate saying 'whoops-a-daisy' yards from my actual front door (when tourists come knocking, my husband, Ivo, always tells them, pointing far, far away from our house, 'Ah no, no, ha ha! It's not THIS GARDEN; it's over there!'). It didn't help that at the time, there really was an excellent travel bookshop in Blenheim Crescent, and a blue doorway where Rhys Ifans twirled for the paps in his Y-fronts. The film turned the W11 postcode (the sort that estate agents called 'desirable' – that is, it was the sort of hood where media moguls rubbed shoulders with Notting Hill Tories such as David Cameron and George Osborne – and 'vibrant' – that is, everyone had a dope dealer) into a destination. After that film, it was a bit bankers-goes-the-neighbourhood. It felt like that nice Richard Curtis had turned our home, our neighbourhood, into a theme park... for everyone else. I didn't help, either. I wrote a semi-autobiographical novel called Notting Hell (Penguin, 2006), whose main character, Mimi, i.e. me, was married to a man called Ralph, a moth-eaten Old Etonian, i.e. Ivo, who was more trout stream than fast lane. My sequel, Shire Hell, had Mimi and Ralph downsizing for Dorset, and then, finally, there was Fresh Hell, when Mimi and family return to London, but can't afford Notting Hill and relocate to Queen's Park. I had to provide a detailed glossary for all the US editions, so 'the Slut and Legless' was the Slug and Lettuce, a pub favoured by antipodean drinkers; Ribena, Babington House and so on are all in there. 'Hugh Grant woke me up at 6am every morning' Interesting residential detail: Hugh Grant moved to Elgin Crescent for a few years. He was filming Paddington 2. He'd park his red Ferrari outside my house. Every morning at 6am, he'd rev the backfiring engine and wake me up as he roared off to the studios. Despite my man-sized crush on him I'd complain every time I saw him. He applied successfully to join the tennis club up the road ('the single most humiliating experience of my adult life,' he reported afterwards – and that was not just because he was paired to 'play in' with the editor of Private Eye, an organ that has had its fun with our most clever, funny and handsome actor over the years). Then the Grants left, which was a shame, as I don't think he even played once at the club. 'I missed the superficiality of Fulham,' he explained. The bookshop and the blue doorway have long gone, too, and my mother died in 2021 (having lived cheek by jowl with me, I'm glad to say, for the rest of her life), but still the hordes of tourists and, now increasingly, these mysterious, pointless influencers, come, to pose against the blossom and the ice-cream-coloured houses, even though the film was made almost 30 years ago. The locals are understandably fed up. The Japanese girls come with suitcases of clothes and lighting and set up camp on their doorsteps for the TikToks, to the extent that some locals are now painting their houses black to put them off. When Notting Hillers have to repaint (as we do), we are being encouraged to deter over-tourism and the scourge of the influencers by painting our houses black. 'It's clear that the bright and contrasting house colours are a major draw for photographs for social media accounts,' a letter seen by the London Standard has reported. Will I paint it black? As things stand, the house is a yellowy off-white, a bit like English teeth. I'd love to go for an ice cream colour, but I don't think my minimalist neighbours would ever agree to one, so it's going to be the stone tones of Farrow & Ball's Clunch or String, I expect. Second interesting property detail: Richard Curtis, who cast Hugh Grant, of course, in That Film, lived up the road, with his now wife, Emma Freud, for decades. Now the man who put Notting Hill on the tourist map has moved to Hampstead, but I'm staying put. It's feet first for me.
The Independent
32 minutes ago
- The Independent
Ryanair introduces £500 fines for disruptive passengers
Disruptive Ryanair passengers removed from planes will be fined £500, the airline has announced. The carrier said this will be the 'minimum' punishment, and it will continue to pursue passengers for civil damages. Ryanair expressed hope the new policy will 'act as a deterrent to eliminate this unacceptable behaviour'. A spokesperson for the airline said: 'It is unacceptable that passengers are made to suffer unnecessary disruption because of one unruly passenger's behaviour. 'To help ensure that our passengers and crew travel in a comfortable and stress-free environment, without unnecessary disruption caused by a tiny number of unruly passengers, we have introduced a £500 fine, which will be issued to any passengers offloaded from aircraft as a result of their misconduct. 'While these are isolated events which happen across all airlines, disruptive behaviour in such a confined shared space is unacceptable.'
