GP's measles warning despite rise in jab uptake

Fears over biggest outbreak of disease in decade

- HELENA VESTY

MANCHESTER has the second highest number of suspected measles cases anywhere in the country so far this year.

The figures come amid new warnings from a Greater Manchester GP, who says 'we have seen how it can quickly increase when there is complacency around getting the MMR vaccination!

More than 1,000 cases of measles have been confirmed by lab tests in England so far this year. That is more than triple the 362 cases seen all last year and the biggest outbreak in more than a decade, according to data from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).

The latest outbreak is thought to have started last October in Birmingham. Since then 580 cases have been confirmed in the West Midlands. But there have been clusters of infections in every region of England - including the north west and Manchester.

Since January, there have been over 5,000 notifications of possible measles cases in England. GPs in Birmingham have seen more suspected cases than anywhere else, with 352 so far this year, including 12 in the latest week. Manchester is next with 123, then Leicester (119), Wandsworth (95), and Coventry (91).