Death of an adult with confirmed measles in Dublin and Midlands Health Region
Protection against measles is offered to children as part of the HSE's childhood immunisation schedule.
A man has died in the first reported case of measles this year in Ireland.
The HSE's Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) tonight confirmed the 48 year-old had died in a hospital in the Dublin and Midlands Health Region.
It is understood that the man from Westmeath had been at an event in Birmingham in the last few weeks where he may have caught the virus.
There had been fears that the disease would reach these shores following outbreaks across Europe including in France and England.
The HSE had already formed a HSE Measles National Incident Management Team (IMT) due to those outbreaks.
"HSE public health teams, along with the HSE Measles National Incident Management Team (IMT), are taking all necessary public health actions in relation to the case," the health authority said in a statement.
There were four measles cases reported in Ireland in 2023, two case reported in 2022, no cases were reported in 2021, and five cases were reported in 2020.
However, throughout those years there were no deaths attributed to the disease.
Earlier this week, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly urged parents of children under 10 to ensure they had received an MMR vaccine, as he said there was a “high probability” of a measles outbreak in Ireland, after the HSE carried out a risk assessment last month.
That followed confirmation that more than 170 measles cases were diagnosed in the West Midlands in England between December 2023 and mid-January 2024 alone, although all regions in England have reported cases.
The HSE has also been considering a catch-up MMR vaccine programme for Leaving Cert and third-level students because the country is likely to face a significant measles outbreak.
Measles is a highly infectious disease that can cause serious complications, particularly in children under one year of age, pregnant women, and the immunosuppressed.
It is unclear whether the man who died had any medical issues prior to becoming infected.
MMR vaccine uptake in Ireland is currently below the World Health Organization recommended uptake of 95%.
Nationally, uptake has been below 90% for seven consecutive quarters. There are also significant geographic variations with uptake rates below 80% in counties Louth and Meath, but at 94% in Dublin Southwest.
A recent study has also estimated that more than a 10th of adults aged 18-34 are non-immune to measles. It is nearly 20% for males aged 18-19 years.
The low level of vaccination has been linked to misinformation in the past about the vaccine which falsely implicated it with a risk of autism.
As autism is more often diagnosed in young male children, it is likely a cohort of now young men were not vaccinated due to parental decisions informed by this “erroneous science”, which has since been discredited.
The symptoms of measles include:
- Cold-like symptoms such as aches and pains, a runny nose, sneezing and a cough;
- Sore red eyes that may be sensitive to light;
- A temperature of 38 degrees Celsius or above, which may reach around 40C;
- Small greyish-white spots in your mouth;
- Loss of appetite;
- Tiredness, irritability, and a general lack of energy;
- Rash, which usually appears on head and neck first and spreads to rest of body.
