Last updated on February 27th, 2018 at 03:52 pm

The BBC report, which highlights information from the World Health Organisation, says that 35 people have died in the last year across Europe, in part caused by the lack of immunisation.

Anyone can get measles – it’s a very infectious viral illness that can have serious complications such as encephalitis (inflammation of the brain), resulting in brain damage with potentially fatal complications – but it is preventable with vaccination.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned of the rising death toll across Europe from outbreaks of measles. Dr Zsuzsanna Jakab, the WHO regional director for Europe, said:

“Every death or disability caused by this vaccine-preventable disease is an unacceptable tragedy.”

In 1998, Dr Andrew Wakefield published a controversial paper claiming that there was a link between the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine and autism. This paper caused the uptake of vaccinations to drop and the outbreak of measles to become more widespread.  As a result, a national catch-up campaign was required.

Both Dr Wakefield and his work have since been discredited and Dr Wakefield has now been struck off the medical register for acting “dishonestly and irresponsibly”.

Thankfully, measles is now uncommon in the UK but this is a timely reminder that the MMR  is a safe and effective combined vaccine and that all children and adults should be vaccinated to prevent needless tragedy.

You can find out more about measles symptoms from the NHS website.