CONCERN AS DISEASE SOARS

RISING MEASLES OUTBREAK IN REGION BLAMED ON FEWER PARENTS VACCINATING CHILDREN

- RICHARD AULT PAUL BRITTON

ALMOST 800 suspected cases of measles have been recorded in Greater Manchester since the start of a nationwide outbreak last October, the M.E.N. can reveal.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the UK had eliminated measles in 2016, thanks to the success of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine.

But just two years later, that status was removed following an increase in cases. Now, after take-up of the vaccine dropped across the nation, England is facing its biggest measles outbreak in more than a decade.

It's one of the world's most infectious diseases and spreads easily among those unvaccinated.

The M.E.N has analysed official numbers to reveal the total number of suspected cases since the situation first emerged last year.

There have been a total of 791 suspected cases across Greater Manchester, with more in Manchester itself than any of the region's nine other local authority areas.