Parents urged to immunise children

PARENTS have been advised to immunise all children over 12 months against measles following a fresh outbreak of the disease in the east of the country.

The Eastern Regional Health Authority yesterday issued the warning after ten new cases of measles in the past week. Director of public health, Dr Marie Laffoy, said the health authority was anxious to avoid a recurrence of the measles outbreak in Ireland in 2000 during which three children from the North Dublin area died. Over 1,600 cases were reported during the epidemic with the three deaths caused by complications resulting from measles Dr Laffoy said the ERHA was concerned the recent cases might signal a fresh outbreak of the disease and she warned parents that every child aged 12 months and over should be immunised against measles with the MMR vaccine: “Measles can be a very serious illness and the message is that if your child is aged 12 months or over and has not been vaccinated they should be vaccinated now.”

However, she stressed the latest warning was issued primarily as a precautionary measure. There was no evidence the recently reported cases occurred in a geographic cluster, according to ERHA officials. It is understood that none of the cases have been hospitalised as a result of measles. Most are believed to affect children in the non-immunised one to four-year-old age group.