Confirmed cases of measles in England by month, age and region: 2023
Updated 25 April 2024
Applies to England
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Update on England measles epidemiology
In 2023 there has been a resurgence of measles in England. From 1 January to 31 December 2023 there were 368 laboratory confirmed [see note 1] measles cases, 160 (44%) in the West Midlands and 122 (33%) in London, however all regions have reported cases.
The initial rise in cases seen in April and May was mainly driven by activity in London which went back to very low levels over the summer period, however since October 2023 there has been a rapid escalation of cases in the West Midlands.
The latest information on the epidemiology of the current UKHSA national measles incident is available.
Most of the cases in 2023 (n=232 (63%)) have been in children under the age of 10 years and 19% (n=71) of the cases were in teenagers and young people aged 15 to 34 years.
Figure 1 illustrates the number of cases, by month, in 2023 in England and London.
Figure 1. Laboratory confirmed cases of measles by month of onset of rash or symptoms reported, London and England: January 2023 to December 2023 [note 1 and 2]
[note 1] Cases confirmed through either local or reference laboratory testing
[note 2] Data for the past 4 weeks are provisional and subject to confirmation in the reference laboratory and are therefore depicted as dotted lines. One previously confirmed case was discarded through further testing and epidemiological analysis.
Table 1. Laboratory confirmed cases of measles by age group and region in England: January 2023 to December 2023 [note 3]
| Age group | East Midlands | East of England | London | North East | North West | South East | South West | West Midlands | Yorkshire | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| less than 1 year | 1 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 20 | 4 | 45 |
| 1 to 4 years | 1 | 3 | 28 | 1 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 40 | 7 | 96 |
| 5 to 10 years | 0 | 1 | 32 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 47 | 7 | 91 |
| 11 to 14 years | 2 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 21 | 0 | 33 |
| 15 to 19 years | 2 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 1 | 26 |
| 20 to 24 years | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 10 |
| 25 to 29 years | 0 | 1 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 23 |
| 30 to 34 years | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 12 |
| 35 years and older | 0 | 2 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 4 | 32 |
| Total | 8 | 8 | 122 | 3 | 10 | 14 | 13 | 160 | 30 | 368 |
[note 3] Data for the past 4 weeks are provisional and subject to confirmation in the reference laboratory. One previously confirmed case, was discarded through further testing.