Measles is still a cause for concern in Europe

Despite efforts to eliminate measles in Europe [1] outbreaks still continue unabated and even cause deaths. In 2006 and 2007 several countries have reported high numbers of cases and outbreaks. The larger outbreaks such as those described in Switzerland [2], Germany [3,4] and Spain [5] mostly involved the general population. Other outbreaks were described primarily affecting particular groups such as the travellers' communities in the United Kingdom [6,7] and Norway [8], Roma and Sinti populations in Italy [9], Roma and immigrant families in Greece [10] and orthodox Jewish communities in Belgium [11] and the UK [7,12]. The groups in the UK are known to historically have low vaccine uptake [13]. .