It is growing rapidly the number of cases measles in Europe and may surpass the already very high number recorded in 2023, the World Health Organization warned today, insisting on the importance of vaccination.

In 45 of the 53 countries in WHO Europe’s coverage area — which extends to central Asia — there were 56,634 measles cases and four deaths in the first months of 2024, according to the data.

This is just 5,000 fewer cases than in all of 2023, when 61,070 cases and 13 deaths were detected in 41 countries.

The number is also 60 times higher than in 2022, when only 941 measles cases were recorded.

“Even one case of measles should be an urgent call to action,” said Hans Kluge, director of WHO Europe.

“I call on all countries to take immediate action, even when overall vaccination coverage is high, to vaccinate the vulnerable, address immune deficits, and thus prevent the virus from establishing itself throughout the community,” he added.

A viral and contagious disease, measles is often mild, but can cause serious complications in the respiratory and nervous systems. It mostly affects children, but not exclusively. In 2023, almost half of the cases involved children under 5 years of age.

“This reflects the number of children who during the pandemic did not receive routine vaccinations against measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases,” the WHO said in a statement, noting that cases were detected in 27 of the 33 countries where the measles virus has been eradicated.

Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Russia are the most affected countries with more than 36,000, 28,000 and 18,000 cases respectively from April 2023 to March 2024.

With 1,008 cases, Britain is ahead of Austria (456 cases) and is the western European country where measles has spread the most, which was thought to have been eradicated by 2021.