Research and analysis

Laboratory confirmed cases of measles, rubella and mumps in England: July to September 2025

Updated 29 January 2026

Applies to England

Laboratory confirmed cases of measles, mumps and rubella, England: July to September 2025

Data as of 10 November 2025.

Introduction

Measles, mumps and rubella are notifiable diseases; healthcare professionals are legally required to inform their local health protection team (HPT) of any suspected case. National enhanced surveillance including oral fluid (OF) testing of all suspected cases is provided through the Virus Reference Department (VRD) at Colindale to support and monitor progress towards World Health Organization (WHO) measles and rubella elimination targets (1).

Two WHO indicators are of prime importance for measuring the performance of national measles and rubella surveillance systems. These are:

1. The rate of laboratory investigations (at least 80% of suspected cases)
2. The annual rate of discarded cases (at least 2 per 100,000 population)

In order to achieve these targets, the focus of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is to ensure that all suspected cases are appropriately tested. IgM serology testing and oral fluid testing are the only two tests considered adequate by WHO for confirming or discarding a suspected measles or rubella case. Recent infection is confirmed by measuring the presence of IgM/IgG antibodies or detecting viral RNA (by PCR) in these samples.

Samples that have been confirmed positive for measles or rubella in a proficient laboratory (this includes local laboratories as well as the National Reference Laboratory) are included in this report. Samples that are referred to, or tested at, the National Reference Laboratory are further sequenced and entered on the WHO global Measles Nucleotide Surveillance (MeaNS) or the Rubella Nucleotide Surveillance (RubeNS) system, respectively, which are hosted by the National Reference Laboratory. Genotyping and further characterisation of measles and rubella is used to support investigation of transmission pathways and sources of infection.

Data presented here is for the third quarter of 2025 (July to September). The analyses are executed using the onset date of a rash or more broadly, symptoms, and regional breakdown figures relate to the Government Office Regions. Hospitalisation statistics have been derived from the Secondary Users Service and Emergency Care Data Sets.

Historical annual and quarterly measles, mumps and rubella epidemiological data are available from 2013 onwards, as follows:

• Measles: confirmed cases
• Mumps: confirmed cases
• Rubella: confirmed cases

The results from all samples tested at Colindale are reported using our laboratory information system (LIMS)-MOLIS. The results are then reported back to the respective general practitioner (GP) and local HPT.

Overview

Table 1. Total suspected cases of measles, mumps and rubella reported to HPTs with breakdown of:

a) number of suspected cases
b) proportion tested by Oral Fluid (OF)
c) other samples referred onto the Virus Reference Department (VRD) Colindale from local NHS hospital and private laboratories
d) cases confirmed at the VRD
e) cases confirmed at regional, local NHS hospital and private laboratories only
f) discard rate (measles and rubella only): weeks 27 to 40 of 2025

Notified as	Total suspected cases [note 1]	Number (%) tested by OF [note 2]	Other samples received by VRD	Number of samples IgM positive or viral detection in VRD	Number locally confirmed	Discard rate based on negative tests per 100,000 population (all samples) [note 3]
Measles	1,573	618 (39.3)	132	151	38	2.4
Mumps	780	424 (54.4)	48	8	12	1.32
Rubella	29	20 (69)	1	0	0	0.05

Note 1: This represents all cases reported to HPTs in England; that is: possible, probable, confirmed and discarded cases on the Agency’s Case and Incident Management System (CIMS).

Note 2: The target set by WHO is 80% for measles and rubella only.

Note 3: The WHO has set a target for the annual discard rate of 2 cases per 100,000 population, which translates to a quarterly target of 0.5 per 100,000. It should be noted that we have proportionally adjusted the annual target, to ensure there is consistent testing across each quarter. This ensures we regularly achieve the target, rather than batch testing in one quarter to achieve the annual discard rate. The discard rate is based only on VRD testing only because local negative tests are not routinely reported to UKHSA. Therefore, this is likely to be an underestimation of the true discard rate.

Measles

In the period between July to September, there were 201 laboratory confirmed cases of measles reported in England, this was a significant decrease compared to the previous quarter (n=365) (2) (Figure 1). Most cases this quarter were reported from London, East of England and the South East regions. Details of the latest measles epidemiology can be found in our monthly publication (3).

Of the 201 cases reported this quarter, 26 (13%) were imported and 6 were import related. The majority, 73.1% (147 of 201), of cases were in children aged 10 years or younger. 5 (2.5%) of the cases had previously received one dose of the MMR vaccine and 2 (1%) had received at least two doses.

No laboratory confirmed cases were reported in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales in the third quarter of 2025.

Using NHS number, 197 individuals linked to the secondary care datasets in the period 5 days before to 10 days after their onset of measles symptoms. Of these 197, 35% of cases attended A&E only with no admission (69 of 197). 42.1% of cases had a primary measles-related reason for admission (83 of 197).

Figure 1. Laboratory confirmed cases of measles by month of onset of rash or symptoms reported, London and England: January 2012 to September 2025

Between 1 January 2025 and 1 November 2025, there have been 82,844 laboratory-confirmed measles cases reported globally (4). This is lower than in 2024, when 167,839 laboratory-confirmed cases were reported, but higher than in 2023 (61,070 cases). Overall, the period from 2023 to 2025 has seen the highest global measles activity in over a decade (4). The continued increase in measles incidence follows a reduction in vaccination coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic (5).

The WHO European Region accounts for around one quarter of all global measles cases and Europe also has the second-highest number of laboratory-confirmed cases. Kyrgyzstan (n=8,468), Romania (n=4,123), and Tajikistan (n=2,284) have reported the highest incidence in the region (6). Globally, measles activity is also high across the WHO African, Eastern Mediterranean, and South-East Asian Regions. Between March and August 2025, the highest case numbers were reported in Yemen (n=9,420), Pakistan (n=13,227), and India (n=10,368) (4). Importations continue to pose a major threat to measles resurgence in under-vaccinated communities.

All suspected cases of measles and rubella should be reported promptly to Health Protection Teams, a risk assessment conducted, and an Oral Fluid kit (OFK) sent for confirmatory testing even if local diagnostic testing is underway. This quarter, an oral fluid sample was returned for 618 (39.3%) of all suspected measles cases reported in England, well below the WHO target of 80% (Table 1).

Mumps

In England, mumps activity continues to be very low, with only 20 laboratory confirmed mumps infections in the period between July to September (1).

Six (30%) of the 20 cases this quarter were in children below the age of 15 years. The remaining 14 cases were in those aged 15 years and older. Most cases (15 of 20) had no MMR vaccination reported; 10% (2 of 20) had received one dose of the MMR vaccine; and 15% (3 of 20) had received both doses of the MMR vaccine.

Figure 2. Laboratory confirmed cases of mumps by year and quarter in England: January 2012 to September 2025

Rubella

There have been no laboratory confirmed cases of rubella in 2025 reported to date.

References

1. Public Health England (2019). ‘UK Measles and rubella elimination strategy 2019’

2. UKHSA (2025). ‘Laboratory confirmed cases of measles, rubella and mumps in England: April to June 2024’. Health Protection Report volume 19 number 9

3. UKHSA (2025). ‘Confirmed cases of measles in England by month, age, region and upper tier local authority: 2025’

4. WHO (2025). ‘Measles and Rubella Global Update, October 2025’

5. Muscat M, Ben Mamou M, Reynen-de Kat C, Jankovic D, Hagan J, Singh S, Datta SS (2024). ‘Progress and challenges in measles and rubella elimination in the WHO European Region’. Vaccines: volume 12, number 6, page 696

6. WHO (2025). ‘Measles/Rubella (MR) Dashboard. Summary table: cases by year and final classification’