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Largest group of children affected by measles outbreak in Wales is 10-18 year olds

BMJ 2013; 346 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.f2545 (Published 19 April 2013) Cite this as: BMJ 2013;346:f2545

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Re: Largest group of children affected by measles outbreak in Wales is 10-18 year olds

Watching the published news of the measles outbreak in South Wales from afar, I am unable to find out how many confirmed cases of measles were actually recorded in the last six months, the percentage of confirmed to notified cases and the real cause of death of the measles-attributed fatal case

I also just visited the Public Health Wales web site where there is also no mention of "laboratory confirmed cases" or of the recent measles fatality
http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sitesplus/888/page/66389#d

Reviewing available statistics of confirmed measles cases from 1999 through 2012, I noticed that there were 976 confirmed measles in England and Wales from January 1, 1999 through December 31, 2005 (the seven years after the Lancet paper) and 7740 cases in the following seven years (January 1, 2006 through December 31, 2012)
http://www.hpa.org.uk/web/HPAweb&HPAwebStandard/HPAweb_C/1195733778332

There did not appear to be a specific distribution trend by age group in individuals younger than 34 years of age during those 14 years.

Competing interests: Gradfather of a young man with Regressive Autism

01 May 2013
F Edward Yazbak
Pediatrician
TL Autism Research
Falmouth, Massachusetts