There is an "unprecedented increase" in the number of measles cases in England and Wales, experts report

Data from the Health Protection Agency (HPA) showed there were 1,217 cases of measles from January to November 2008, the highest figure for over a decade.

The HPA's Dr Mary Ramsay said the rise was due to "relatively low" MMR uptake.  And even before numbers for December have been recorded, the figures show there were more measles cases in 2008 than in any of the previous 12 years.

Despite the recent surge of cases outside London, over half of the cases last year were in the capital.

As well as outbreaks in nurseries, primary and secondary schools, there have been outbreaks in traveller communities in the west midlands and south-east.

The HPA says too few children are receiving both doses of the combined measles, mumps and rubellavaccine.

Sixty per cent of all cases of measles were seen in children aged under 15.

UK was named recently as one of the worst countries in Europe for measles, with case levels dashing global hopes of eradicating the disease by 2010. A Lancet study said that in 2006-7 most of the 12,000 cases in Europe were found in the UK and four other nations.

A Department of Health spokesman said an MMR catch-up programme, which began last August, aimed to help local primary care trusts to identify children who had not been given the vaccine.

Although most children recover from measles, it can be a serious illness. One in 10 cases require hospital treatment and it can lead to pneumonia, brain damage and even death.