Measles is on the rise and London is sleepwalking into an avoidable disaster

SEVEN years ago the World Health Organisation declared that measles was "eliminated" from Britain.

- Martha Gill

This was an approximation, of course it meant jumpy public health authorities were able to catch the disease in time when it snuck in at airports or harbours. This seems like a tricky thing to do- measles is highly contagious - but it is just about possible when 95 per cent of the population is vaccinated.

But the virus is back - and specifically, back in London. Our vaccination rates have dropped. Last summer we were warned that tens of thousands of cases could break out in the capital - we're not there yet, but pockets of the disease have been erupting all winter, and it could get worse.

It's strange to be battling a disease for which we've had a vaccine - cheap and widely available - for more than 60 years. And it's not like the tools for running an effective vaccine programme lie hidden out of reach.

Rwanda, Eritrea and Sri Lanka have managed to get a grip on the illness - they've vaccinated almost everyone. So why in a rich country like Britain is this old-fashioned illness running amok in the capital? Measles is dangerous, by the way: it's usually mild but about one in five of its victims ends up in hospital, and when really serious it leads to pneumonia, blindness and brain damage.