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The Irish Health Service (HSE) has announced that an adult infected with measles has died in an Irish hospital.
This is the first confirmed case of measles in Ireland this year.
According to the HSE, there were four measles cases in 2023, two in 2022, zero in 2021 and five in 2020, with no deaths reported in either year.
It comes as health authorities in Europe and the UK warn that infections are rising as vaccination rates decline.
The adult died in hospital in the Dublin Midlands Health Region, which includes Leinster. The HSE’s Health Protection Surveillance Center (HPSC) has been notified.
The public health team and the National Measles Incident Management Team (IMT) said: “We are taking all necessary public health measures in relation to this incident.”
Ireland’s chief medical officer, Professor Breda Smith, said she was “very concerned” that there was a “high risk” of measles outbreaks in the country, adding that the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine was He urged the public to get vaccinated.
Professor Smith said in a video shared on social media on Thursday (originally posted last month) that vaccination levels were below 90% nationally and below 80% in some counties in Ireland. He said there was.
He said about 95% of the population needs to be vaccinated to prevent the spread of the disease.
The HPSC says most confirmed measles cases in Ireland since 2020 have reported recent travel to countries with ongoing outbreaks.
Measles is a highly contagious disease that is spread through coughing and sneezing, and can cause serious illness at any age.
It often begins with a high fever and rash, which usually clears up within 10 days, but complications can include pneumonia, meningitis, blindness, and seizures.
Approximately 42,200 people were infected in 2023, compared to 941 in 2022 as a whole.
The MMR vaccine is given in two doses. The first time was around 1 year old, and the second time was around 3 years and 4 months old.
WHO believes the increase in cases is a result of fewer children receiving vaccinations during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Across Europe, first vaccination rates for MMR vaccines fell from 96% in 2019 to 93% in 2022. Second-dose uptake dropped from 92% to 91% over the same period.
The seemingly small drop in vaccination coverage means that more than 1.8 million children in Europe missed out on measles vaccination over the past two years.
“Vaccination is the only way to protect children from this potentially dangerous disease,” WHO Regional Director Dr. Hans Kluge said in December.
In the UK, the number of suspected cases is also increasing.