HSE warns of measles outbreak in children

THE HEALTH Service Executive has urged parents to ensure their children are vaccinated from measles due to an outbreak in certain parts of the State.

The HSE’s health protection surveillance centre has been notified of 63 cases of measles so far this year, compared with 55 cases for all of 2008. Twelve of this year’s cases were hospitalised, but there were no deaths.

“The outbreak in the HSE South, HSE Southeast and the HSE West, is predominantly affecting young children and teenagers from the Traveller community,” Dr Suzanne Cotter of the centre said yesterday.

Most of the cases were in children aged between one and four. The oldest reported case was an adult aged 33. None of the affected patients had been vaccinated.

“[What] is particularly worrying in this outbreak is that many of the parents of the children affected were not aware that their children were not vaccinated and, therefore, not protected,” Dr Cotter said.

The centre recommends that children receive two doses of MMR. Currently, 90 per cent of children aged two years have been vaccinated. The centre said the potential consequences of the highly infectious disease include pneumonia (one in 20), encephalitis (one in 1,000) and death (one to two in 1,000).

This is the second outbreak of measles this year to affect the Travelling community. This may be due to a lower uptake in vaccine due to increased mobility and lack of readily accessible immunisation records, the centre said.