According to The World Health Organization (WHO), more than 34,000 people across Europe caught measles in the first two months of 2019, with the vast majority of cases in Ukraine. These cases recorded across 42 countries resulted in 13 deaths. This number was almost three times greater than for the first two months of 2018. In Germany, local authorities in the northern state of Lower Saxony said that an adult had died of measles, though they did not give an age or gender for the victim.

The death toll among 34,300 cases reported across 42 countries in the WHO’s European region reached 13, with the virus killing people in Ukraine - which is suffering a measles epidemic - as well as in Romania and Albania. The risk is that outbreaks may continue to spread, that's why WHO warned that is urging authorities to ensure that vulnerable people are vaccinated.

"If outbreak response is not timely and comprehensive, the virus will find its way into more pockets of vulnerable individuals and potentially spread to additional countries within and beyond the region," the Organization said in a statement. "Every opportunity should be used to vaccinate susceptible children, adolescents and adults". A highly contagious disease, measles can cause blindness, deafness, brain damage, and even death. “The impact on public health will persist until the ongoing outbreaks are controlled,” it said, adding that health authorities should “identify who has been missed in the past and reach them with the vaccines they need.”

Officials have blamed a drop in immunization rates on a stream of misinformation about the measles vaccine, including a long-debunked theory that it can cause autism. German Health Minister Jens Spahn has proposed a law allowing for parents of unvaccinated children to be fined up to €2,500 ($2,800), with some 170 cases registered in Germany during January and February. 

A report by the United Nations children’s fund UNICEF last month found that more than 20 million children a year missed out on measles vaccines across the world in the past eight years, laying the ground for dangerous outbreaks.