1 Summary

• From 1 January 2024 to 21 April, 100 clinically suspected measles cases have been notified to the Public Health Agency.
• Of those notified during 2024 to 21 April, four were laboratory confirmed.
• A Northern Ireland measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination catch-up campaign is currently running to increase protection against the virus among children aged 12 months up to and including twenty-five years of age.

2 Background

Measles is a systemic viral infection caused by the measles virus. It is normally characterised by a fever, rash and respiratory illness. For more information about measles please visit NI Direct | Measles.

A vaccine against measles, which also provides protection against mumps and rubella (MMR), is included in the Northern Ireland childhood vaccination schedule at one year of age and at three years and four months. From February 2024, anyone in Northern Ireland aged from one to twenty-five years, who has not already had two doses of MMR, is also eligible to receive the vaccine as part of a regional ‘catch-up’ campaign. For more information please visit NI Direct | MMR catch-up campaign, NI Direct | MMR and NI PHA | MMR vaccine catch-up.

Public and clinician awareness of measles has changed over time, especially during February 2024, which may contribute to changes in trends.

Details of case definitions and methods are at the end of this document. Data were correct at 21 April 2024.

3 Measles notifications, 2023-2024

The number of notified clinically suspected measles cases from the start of 2023 until the report date are shown (Table 3.1).

Please note: in the table above data for 2024 is up to 21 April

3.1 Trends

Measles notifications in Northern Ireland increased during February 2024 before decreasing by the end of March (Figure 3.1). The increases noted in February are likely attributable to an increase in reporting due to increased awareness. There have been four laboratory confirmed measles cases reported in 2024. The last cases in NI were in 2017 when six cases were confirmed. The supplementary table below shows counts of measles notifications recorded by week.

Figure 3.1: Incidence of measles notifications, by week of notification, all ages, 2023 - 2024.

4 Discussion

There have been four laboratory confirmed cases during 2024, the first since 2017. There was an increase in notifications of clinically suspected measles during February 2024, likely due to increased awareness and reporting. There is an increased risk of measles outbreaks due to a reduction in MMR vaccine coverage in Northern Ireland during recent years NI PHA | MMR vaccine coverage. Increasing coverage of the MMR vaccine is crucial to ensure widespread protection and prevent outbreaks of measles.

5 Methods

Measles notifications are reported by clinicians to the Public Health Agency and were extracted from the case management database. Measles is notifiable in Northern Ireland under the Public Health Act (1967) Northern Ireland.

Cases are presented by the date that they were recorded on the PHA database. Notified cases will be removed from future reports if PHA is notified that clinical investigations later result in an alternative diagnosis. Numbers may therefore reduce.

Data were processed in R.

6 Supplementary Table