Via Wales Online: Measles outbreak predicted to top 500 cases after Easter weekend. Excerpt:
The measles outbreak in Wales is predicted to top 500 cases on Wednesday as health officials expect a “significant rise” following the Easter weekend.
Public Health Wales said officials had reported seeing a high number of cases of the disease during the Bank Holiday period and remain disappointed that vaccination rates have not significantly improved in the last week.
The rise in the number of cases, which last week stood at 432, will be confirmed on Wednesday. The most recent statistics released by Public Health Wales last Tuesday showed that in just one week the number of cases had increased by 116 with 51 people hospitalised. On March 4, the figure stood at just 200.
A spokesman said: “The way it is going, we could be looking at over 500. From what our officials have told us, people working in the out-of-hours services have been busy over Easter. In terms of vaccination rates, we have not seen a massive jump. We are expecting the numbers to be bad.”
Experts have said that the current outbreak of the disease is spreading at an “alarming rate” and is the biggest Wales has seen in more than a decade.
