Cases of measles have more than tripled in the county in the past year and health chiefs blame the rise on a lack of children being immunised against the disease.

In 2008, Kent's hospital trusts recorded 24 confirmed cases of the disease compared to just seven cases in 2007.

The figures, provided by the Health Protection Agency, can be mainly attributed to a sharp rise in people in west Kent contracting the disease - from 2007 to 2008 the number of cases in the area jumped from four to 19, an almost 500 per cent increase.

In the Eastern and Coastal Kent area, there was a rise of only one case in 2008 compared to the previous year, meaning only four people caught measles.

The Medway area reported one case of measles last year, but the previous year there had been no cases at all.

The countywide figures reflect the national trend, which health experts put down to a lack of children being immunised with the MMR vaccine.

Dr Mathi Chandrakumar, director at the Kent Health Protection Unit, said: "The year-on-year increase of measles across England and Wales is very worrying. Last year saw the highest number of cases since the current method of monitoring the disease was introduced in 1995.

"What is so alarming is that the majority of these cases could have been prevented as most were in children who were not fully protected with MMR.

"There are still many children out there who were not vaccinated as toddlers over the past decade and remain unprotected. Unfortunately, this means measles, which is highly infectious, is spreading easily among these unvaccinated children.

"Public confidence in the MMR vaccine is now high with more than eight out of 10 children receiving one dose of MMR by their second birthday. However, children who weren’t vaccinated many years ago are still at real risk.

"Measles should not be taken lightly as you can never tell who will go on to develop the more serious complications of pneumonia and encephalitis."