Copenhagen  - The regional office of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Europe has urged governments, health authorities and others to step up vaccination programmes against measles.

Although Europe is on the verge of eliminating measles, there have been outbreaks threatening the progress.

The Copenhagen-based regional WHO office attributed the lower immunization rates "to a combination of vaccine scepticism" as well as "the success of immunization programmes in earlier generations."

More than 8,145 measles cases were reported in 2008 of which 86 per cent were in Austria, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Britain and Israel, the agency said.

The complications linked to measles include pneumonia and encephalitis or inflammation of the brain and some cases of the viral disease can prove fatal.

"We must scale up vaccination coverage to ensure that the gains made so far are not jeopardized," said Dr Nata Menabde, Deputy Regional Director at the WHO Regional Office.

A European immunization week against measles, backed by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and other groups, has been scheduled for April 20-26.

A similar campaign in 2008 was backed by 32 of the 53 regional WHO member states. (dpa)