The 2012–2013 Swansea measles epidemic began in November 2012 and was declared over on 3 July 2013. There were a total of 1,219 measles notifications (suspected cases) in Swansea,

Neath Port Talbot Neath Port Talbot ( cy, Castell-nedd Port Talbot) is a county borough in the south-west of Wales. Its principal towns are Neath, Port Talbot, Briton Ferry and Pontardawe. The county borough borders Bridgend County Borough and Rhondda Cynon Taf ...

Bridgend Bridgend (; cy, Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr or just , meaning "the end of the bridge on the Ogmore") is a town in Bridgend County Borough in Wales, west of Cardiff and east of Swansea. The town is named after the medieval bridge over the River Og ...

Carmarthenshire Carmarthenshire ( cy, Sir Gaerfyrddin; or informally ') is a county in the south-west of Wales. The three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford. Carmarthen is the county town and administrative centre. The county is known as ...

Ceredigion Ceredigion ( , , ) is a county in the west of Wales, corresponding to the historic county of Cardiganshire. During the second half of the first millennium Ceredigion was a minor kingdom. It has been administered as a county since 1282. Cer ...

, Pembrokeshire and

Powys Powys (; ) is a county and preserved county in Wales. It is named after the Kingdom of Powys which was a Welsh successor state, petty kingdom and principality that emerged during the Middle Ages following the end of Roman rule in Britain. Geog ...

, with 1,455 measles notifications for the whole of

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

, 664 of which were in Swansea alone. A total of 88 people were hospitalised for measles infection during the epidemic. One death was reported: a 25-year-old man with giant cell

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

brought on by measles infection died on 18 April 2013. The cost associated with treating the sick and controlling the outbreak exceeded £470,000 ($701,898).

History

Some sources linked the outbreak with the

MMR vaccine controversy Claims of a link between the MMR vaccine and autism have been extensively investigated and found to be false. The link was first suggested in the early 1990s and came to public notice largely as a result of the 1998 ''Lancet'' MMR autism frau ...

and a campaign in the ''

South Wales Evening Post The ''South Wales Evening Post'' is a tabloid daily newspaper distributed in the South West region of Wales. The paper has three daily editions – Swansea, Neath and Port Talbot and Carmarthenshire – and is published by Media Wales, part ...

'' in the 1990s against the MMR vaccine, as the majority of those who became infected were not immunised as infants during the MMR scare. Uptake of the MMR vaccine fell from 94% of two-year-olds in Wales in 1995 to 78% by 2003. In the Swansea area the uptake fell to 67.5%. The ''South Wales Evening Post'' was also criticised for appearing to exaggerate the number of confirmed measles cases that occurred during the epidemic. In the wake of the outbreak MMR clinics were set up in four hospitals in Swansea and Neath-Port Talbot and vaccinated over 35,000 people. Several politicians, including Welsh First Minister

Carwyn Jones Carwyn Howell Jones (born 21 March 1967) is a Welsh politician who served as First Minister of Wales and Leader of Welsh Labour from 2009 to 2018. He served as Counsel General for Wales from 2007 to 2009. Jones served as the Member of the S ...

, urged the public to make sure their children were vaccinated. Politicians and vaccine experts also called for mandatory vaccinations to be implemented. The

Welsh Government , image = , caption = , date_established = , country = Wales , address = , leader_title = First Minister () , appointed = First Minister approved by the Senedd, ceremonially appointed ...

opposed mandatory vaccination, believing that trust in the MMR vaccine had been regained and could be damaged if it were mandatory.

Hywel Dda Health Board Hywel Dda University Health Board (HDUHB) ( cy, Bwrdd Iechyd Prifysgol Hywel Dda) is the local health board of NHS Wales for the west of Wales. Established on 1 October 2009 from the merger of the Hywel Dda NHS Trust, the Pembrokeshire Local He ...

offered the vaccine in April 2013 in the surrounding counties of Carmarthen, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire in a bid to contain the outbreak. Vaccinations were held in all comprehensive schools in

. There were concerns that the epidemic could spread to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and infect many more people, prompting the

Department of Health A health department or health ministry is a part of government which focuses on issues related to the general health of the citizenry. Subnational entities, such as states, counties and cities, often also operate a health department of their ow ...

to set up a mass vaccination campaign targeted at one million school children throughout

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The following table shows measles notifications by the

Local Health Board NHS Wales has been organised into administrative units known as Local Health Boards (LHB, ) since 2003. Following a reorganisation in 2009, there are currently seven local health boards in Wales. Local health boards may use an operational name ...

. Reported notifications tend to exceed confirmed cases.

Public Health Wales Public Health Wales (PHW; ) is an NHS Trust which was established on 1 October 2009 as part of a major restructuring of the health service in Wales. It aims to protect and improve health and wellbeing and reduce health inequalities in Wales. M ...

issued a statement saying, "Measles is one of a number of notifiable diseases. Doctors in Wales have a statutory duty to notify a 'Proper Officer' of the Local Authority of suspected cases of measles based on clinical symptoms, usually before diagnosis has been confirmed by laboratory testing. Reported notifications of measles usually far exceed the actual numbers of confirmed cases. Other rashes are often mistaken for measles".

References

External links

Timeline of Measles Outbreak Centred on Swansea Area
Public Health Wales. {{DEFAULTSORT:Swansea measles epidemic, 2013 Health in Wales Measles outbreaks 2013 in Wales 2013 disease outbreaks Disease outbreaks in the United Kingdom 21st century in Swansea 21st-century epidemics Disasters in Wales 2013 disasters in the United Kingdom Disease outbreaks in Wales

History

See also

References

External links