 The MMR vaccine was introduced in the UK in 1988 |
Ten cases of measles have been reported to health officials in a Leicestershire town in the past few weeks. Parents in Melton Mowbray are being urged to make sure their children are fully protected against the disease as a result of the outbreak.
Doctors said the only way to protect children from measles is immunisation.
Dr Janet Glencross of the Health Protection Agency urged parents to make sure their children are given the MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella) vaccine.
Letters to parents
"We are concerned as measles is a very serious illness," she said.
"The level of immunisation of MMR has diminished to such an extent that we do not have enough people protected in the community to stop an epidemic developing."
All parents of five to 16-year-olds in the town are being sent a letter next week, offering them the MMR jab.
Take-up of the MMR vaccine has dropped in recent years because of claims it may be linked to autism.
A 13-year-old boy who died from measles earlier this year was the first fatality from the disease in the United Kingdom in 14 years.
The victim was from a travelling family living in the north-west of England.
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