Dublin measles outbreak worsens, according to HSE

The Health Service Executive (HSE) has warned that a recent measles outbreak in Dublin has gotten worse.

According to a statement, "HSE has been notified this week of four further measles cases in Dublin, affecting two adults and two children. These four individuals are likely to have developed measles from contact with one of the two earlier cases at hospitals in Dublin. The HSE requests people to continue to be vigilant about measles." Dr Helena Murray, Specialist in Public Health Medicine said: “Measles can be a serious illness and is highly infectious. The best protection is to be fully vaccinated with two doses of MMR (Measles, Mumps, and Rubella) vaccine”. People at increased risk of getting measles are those who are not fully vaccinated with two doses of MMR vaccine or have not had measles in the past. The risk of measles is for up to 21 days after contact with a case of measles. There are on-going outbreaks of measles in multiple countries in the European region and worldwide. Most of the cases in the EU in 2018 were reported from Romania, France, Greece, and Italy. The HSE has also published a list of symptoms to be on the look out for.

• High fever
• Cough
• Runny nose
• Red eyes
• Red rash that starts on head and spread down the body - this normally starts a few days after onset of illness. The rash consists of flat red or brown blotches, which can flow into each other. It lasts about 4-7 days
• Vomiting, diarrhoea and tummy pain may also happen.

The alert can be read in full here.