Italian health ministry said there had been almost 1,500 registered cases of measles this year as US issued a warning to visitors about the outbreakItaly has announced that it is experiencing a measles epidemic following a fall-off in vaccinations, as the United States issued a warning to visitors about the outbreak of the potentially fatal disease. Italy's Five Star Movement blamed for surge in measles cases Read moreThe Italian health ministry said on Wednesday there had been almost 1,500 registered cases of measles so far this year against some 840 in all of 2016 and some 250 in 2015. Ricciardi told Radio 24 that unlike in Italy, the United States had launched a large campaign to convince parents to vaccinate their children. A leading M5S politician, Andrea Cecconi, suggested last month that the jump in measles cases might be part of a natural cycle for the illness rather than a preventable epidemic. The M5S defended the report, but health officials accused RAI of being unnecessarily alarmist.

Source: The Guardian April 19, 2017 20:20 UTC