Health officials in Iceland have confirmed a domestically - contracted case of measles for the first time in almost 50 years . The infant is the sibling of a nine - month old child who contracted the illness while his family was travelling in Thailand . The infant was unvaccinated because of his young age and transmitted the virus to his sibling after travelling to Iceland . As we noted last week , measles cases have tripled in Italy and the virus is rare where immunisation has fallen below the threshold of 95 % . It is believed that parents are avoiding vaccinating their children over fears surrounding a link to autism .
Health officials in Iceland have confirmed a domestically-contracted case of measles for the first time in almost 25 years. The patient is the sibling of a nine-month old child who contracted the illness while his family was travelling in Thailand. The infant was unvaccinated because of his young age and spread the virus to his sibling after returning to Iceland. As we noted last week, measles cases have tripled in Italy and the virus is spreading where immunisation has fallen below the threshold of 95%. It is believed that parents are avoiding vaccinating their children over fears surrounding a link to autism.