During the last five years, Italian health officials reported slightly more than 10,000 measles cases (10,065) and 2017 accounted for about half of this total.
According to the Ministero della Salute (computer translated), there were 4,991 cases of measles from 21 regions, including four deaths.
Most of the cases were reported by eight Regions: Lazio (n = 1.699), Lombardia (n = 787), Piedmont
(n = 629), Sicily (n = 425), Tuscany (n = 370), Veneto (n = 288), Abruzzo (n = 173) and Campania (n = 108).
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Of the four fatalities, three were in children under 10 years of age (1, 6 and 9 years respectively) and one person aged 41, all unvaccinated. Each case had some underlying medical condition.
87.5% of cases for which the vaccination status is known were non-vaccinated and 7.2% had only one dose of vaccine.
Related: The growing anti-vaccine movement: A discussion with Dr Peter Hotez
45 percent of the cases required hospitalization.
From 1 December 2016 to 30 November 2017, 14,393 cases of measles were reported in 30 EU / EEA countries, of which 60% confirmed in the laboratory. All countries except Latvia and Malta reported cases during this period.
In addition, 65 cases of rubella were been reported in Italy last year.
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