MEASLES cases in East Yorkshire have dropped to zero – bucking the national trend.
The latest figures show our region has seen no new cases of measles, despite reports of cases across Yorkshire and England.
Monthly confirmed measles cases in Yorkshire and the Humber show there were five incidents of the preventable, infectious disease, on top of the 65 cases reported from January to April.
However, none of these were in the East Riding or Hull catchments.
The East Riding's director of public health, Dr Tim Allison, said: "Having no cases is clearly good news.
"However, it is difficult to know whether this can be attributed to the work we have done to encourage parents to get their children the MMR vaccine.
"We're very pleased the figures are good, but at the same time we don't want to get complacent."
From January to May this year, there were nine cases of measles in the East Riding and two in Hull.
However, the latest available data for May shows neither public health authority had a new case in this month.
Five measles cases were confirmed in May in Yorkshire – one in Leeds, three in North Yorkshire and one in Sheffield.
Preliminary figures released this week by Public Health England estimated about 56,000 previously unvaccinated 10 to 16-year-olds in the country have received a first dose of vaccine.
Cases have declined across England, with 188 confirmed cases in May, compared with 299 in April.
However, ten to 14-year-olds continue to be the age group most affected.
Dr Allison said: "The school holidays are an excellent time to get an MMR vaccine if your child hasn't already had one.
"The surgeries might be less busy and you don't have to take a child out of lessons for the appointment.
"We urge parents to get their children two vaccines, as they are more effective than one."
