Massive spike in dangerous Victorian disease in the UK - see symptoms list here

01 August 2023 , 15:04

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There has been a recent spike in MMR case rates (stock image) (Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

There’s been a massive spike in the case numbers of a dangerous Victorian disease in the first few months of this year.

Data from the UK Health Security Agency shows how a number highly infectious diseases are on the uptick once again. Despite vaccines being widely and freely available, measles, mumps and rubella have seen their rates increase as much as five fold in the first quarter of this year, compared to periods of last year.

This comes after health chiefs previously warned London could be on track to hit a terrifying measles outbreak of up to 160,000 cases and the shocking rises paint a worrying picture. Rates are now threatening to return towards higher figures seen before the pandemic.

From January to March this year, the UK has already had a suspected 454 cases. Similarly, there's over 1,600 possible cases of mumps, and 66 of Rubella. The majority of these are in London, which often acts as a disease hotspot given its frequency of international travellers and density of population.

In the lab, confirmed cases of measles are already at 31, compared to just 7 by the same point of last year - reflecting the true scope of the growth. Similarly, confirmed cases of mumps are five fold by the end of March this year, what they were last summer.

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But rises in measles aren’t limited to just the UK, with activity picking up in South East Asia and many parts of Africa too and almost a quarter of the country’s cases being imported from abroad too. Things have gotten so bad that the World Health Organisation Europe has warned that a resurgence of measles is now an imminent threat - in part due to vaccine rates tumbling during the pandemic.

Both measles and mumps have seen severe increases in the first three months of this year, compared to last, and the vast majority of Brits who were suffering from them didn’t have vaccines. This was especially pronounced amongst youngsters whose parents might have spurned the jabs over the pandemic.

Confirmed cases in the UK fluctuated from 2012 to 2019, spiking towards the end of the decade. However the Covid pandemic led to rates being depressed as Brits went into lockdown and were no longer moving about and spreading the diseases.

Measles symptoms:

• High temperature
• Runny or blocked nose
• Sneezing
• Coughing
• Red, sore or watery eyes
• Spots in the mouth
• Distinctive rash

Mumps symptoms:

• Swelling of the glands at the top of your neck, either side
• Headache
• Joint pain
• Feeling sick
• Dry mouth

Rubella symptoms

• Distinctive rash
• Aching fingers, wrists or knees
• High temperature
• Coughs
• Sneezing
• Runny nose

Kieren Williams