Research and analysis

Laboratory confirmed cases of measles, rubella and mumps in England: October to December 2025

Updated 30 April 2026

Applies to England

Data as of 23 March 2026.

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)

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 2 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 fourth quarter of 2025 (October to December). However, details of the most recent epidemiology are published at ‘Measles epidemiology 2023 to 2026’.

The analyses are executed using the onset date of a rash or other 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. Travel related data is retrieved from UKHSA’s case incident management system (CIMS).

Historical annual and quarterly measles, mumps and rubella epidemiological data is 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 UKHSA’s laboratory information system 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 40 to 53 of 2025

Notification	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	918	432 (47.1)	89	150	20	1.27
Mumps	1,222	701 (57.4)	51	26	2	2.04
Rubella	38	16 (42.1)	2	0	0	0.06

Note 1: This represents all cases reported to HPTs in England; that is: possible, probable, confirmed and discarded cases on 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 on VRD testing 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 October and December 2025, there were 170 laboratory confirmed cases of measles in England, a decrease of 15.4 % since the previous quarter (n=201) (2) (Figure 1). Cases in the fourth quarter of 2025 were mainly linked to outbreaks in London, West Midlands, and Yorkshire and Humber regions.

Of the 170 cases confirmed in the fourth quarter 2025, 18 were classified as imported and 2 were classified as import related. The majority, 61.8% (105 out of 170), of cases were in children aged 10 years or younger. Five (2.9%) cases were vaccinated with 1 dose of the MMR vaccine and 6 (3.5%) had received at least 2 MMR doses.

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

Using NHS number, 167 individuals linked to the secondary care datasets in the period 5 days before to 10 days after their onset of measles symptoms. Of these 167, 37.1% of cases, attended A&E only, with no admission (62 out of 167). 40.7% of cases had a primary measles-related reason for admission (68 out of 167).

All suspected cases of measles and rubella should be reported promptly, 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 432 (47.1%) of all suspected measles cases reported in England (Table 1).

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

In 2025, a total of 23,635 laboratory‑confirmed measles cases were reported across the WHO European Region (3). This represents a substantial decrease compared with 2024, when 85,472 laboratory‑confirmed cases were reported (3), although case numbers in 2025 remain influenced by ongoing susceptibility linked to reduced vaccination coverage during the COVID‑19 pandemic (4). Across the WHO European Region measles activity in 2025 continued to be geographically varied, with transmission concentrated in countries with persistently low population immunity. The highest case incidence rate per 1,000,000 in 2025 was reported in: Kyrgyzstan (n=8,517), Romania (n=4,198), and Tajikistan (n=2,246) (3).

Globally, the WHO European Region accounted for 17.9% of the 131,911 global laboratory-confirmed measles cases (3,5).

Europe had the fourth‑highest number of laboratory-confirmed cases globally, following the African, Eastern Mediterranean, and Western Pacific Regions (5). Between February 2025 and January 2026, the highest measles case incidence rates per 1,000,000 globally were reported in: Mongolia (n=3,779.53, rate=3,779.53), Kyrgyzstan (n=6,582, rate=902.26) and Yemen (n=29,488, rate=705.90) (5). Given the ongoing high measles incidence globally and in several WHO European Region countries, importations into England remain likely, particularly among travellers returning from countries with widespread transmission, posing a continued risk to under‑vaccinated communities (3,5). In 2025, a high number of measles importations in England were linked to travel from Pakistan (n=14), Romania (n=12) and Saudi Arabia (n=7), although cases were reported among travellers returning from a further 36 countries.

Mumps

In England, there were 28 laboratory confirmed mumps infections in the period October to December 2025, an increase of 40% (n=20) since the last quarter (2).

Eight (29%) of the 28 cases this quarter were children below the age of 15 years. Of these, 12.5% (1 out of 8) were vaccinated with 1 dose of MMR, and 25% (2 out of 8) had received at least 2 doses. Of the 20 cases in those aged 15 years and older, 1 individual had received 2 MMR doses and the rest had no vaccine recorded.

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

Rubella

There were no laboratory confirmed cases of rubella in Q4, 2025.

References

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

2. UKHSA (2026). ‘Laboratory confirmed cases of measles, rubella and mumps in England: July to September 2025’. Health Protection Report volume 20 number 1

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

4. 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

5. WHO (2026). ‘Measles and Rubella Global Update, March 2026’