Guardian News and Media/London
The number of measles cases reported in the Swansea outbreak rose by more than 10% in a week to 765, Public Health Wales said.
The total rose by 72, and 77 people have now been hospitalised during the crisis.
Health officials and ministers have warned more people will catch the highly infectious disease as they attempt to bring the outbreak under control.
They are stepping up pressure on parents a across Wales to ensure their children are vaccinated with the triple measles, mumps and rubella(MMR) vaccine.
Public Health Wales said it was “just a matter of time” before a child died or was left with serious or permanent complications such as eye disorders, deafness or brain damage.
Five thousand children in the Swansea area alone are said to remain at risk and children between 10-18 have been most affected so far.
Marion Lyons, director of health protection for Public Health Wales, said: “Plenty of opportunities are being offered to parents to vaccinate their children against measles, but parents need to make sure they take these opportunities.
“We can’t bring this outbreak to an end unless the parents of unvaccinated children either arrange vaccination with their GP, call into one of the weekend drop-in sessions or ensure that if their child attends a school where vaccinations are being offered, they have signed a consent form for them to be vaccinated.”
Lyons added: “Children who do not have signed consent forms cannot be vaccinated so it is crucial that parents ensure they have given their consent. The highest attack rate was in children aged 10-18. “These are the children who may not have been vaccinated because of concerns about the safety of MMR in the late 1990s. The vaccine is safe, effective and the only protection against a potentially fatal disease,” said Lyons.
“Although the outbreak is at present affecting the Abertawe Bro Morgannwg, Powys and Hywel Dda health board areas, we have cases of measles in every health board area in Wales and we have no way of knowing where the outbreak might spread. As children return to school after the Easter holidays, the opportunities for measles to spread increases. Now is the time to vaccinate your children.”
Although nearly 3,700 children were given catch-up jabs at special clinics over the past two weekends, and hundreds more pupils will be immunised at schools and GP surgeries in Swansea and across Wales, Mark Drakeford, the health minister, said: “It is vital we build on the progress made so far and bring the outbreak under control.”
Drakeford said in a written statement to the Welsh assembly in Cardiff: “It is encouraging parents are continuing to bring their children forward but the numbers need to be higher to bring the outbreak under control.”
He anticipated the numbers of cases would continue to rise over the coming weeks until vaccination uptake reached levels where “the continuing circulation of measles in the community can be interrupted”.
