GENEVA – A recent measles outbreak in Germany has highlighted the need for vaccination reminders and better information for parents, according to research published today in the international public health journal, the Bulletin of the World Health Organization.

A study of the outbreak in the German city of Duisburg found that at least 80% of 614 measles cases in 2006 were reported as “unvaccinated”. The main reasons given were that parents either forgot to take their children to be vaccinated or rejected the vaccine, for various reasons including the mistaken belief that it was dangerous.