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Measles cases rise to 886

Public Health Wales has reported that the number of measles cases has risen to 886, as children have gone back to school after Easter. 25-year-old Gareth Williams died during the epidemic, it has not been confirmed whether measles was the cause.

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Wales health body warns 'more MMR jabs needed'

Public Health Wales has warned that an outbreak of measles is showing "no signs of ending" and that more vaccines will need to be given, as latest figures reveal there are 78 new cases since Thursday.

Dr Marion Lyons, Director of Health Protection for Public Health Wales, said

The response from parents has been excellent, particularly in the last four weeks, and we are seeing people turn up in their thousands to drop-in clinics and GP surgeries for non-routine MMR vaccination.

There is still an urgent need to vaccinate more children if we are going to end this outbreak. The hardest hit age group is those between 10 and 18 so we would remind those young people and their parents that now is the time to be vaccinated.

We have seen in the last few days that measles can be potentially fatal and no one should be complacent about the severity of measles. It can kill but can be prevented by a simple, safe vaccine.

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Measles cases rise to 886

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