Ireland: W. Cork Measles Outbreak, 51 Teens Infected – Published 11 June 2012

Parents are being warned about the importance of protecting their children against measles following an outbreak of the infectious disease in County Cork.

The Public Health Agency (PHA) is urging families to get their children fully immunised with two doses of MMR before travelling to the south of Ireland or to other European countries during the summer months.

The warning came after 51 children were diagnosed with measles in west Cork. Two of them were admitted to hospital for further treatment.

Most of the infected children are teenagers and 88% of them had never received any dose of MMR vaccine. Although measles can occur at any age, it is most common in children.

However, the disease is life threatening at any age.

Measles can be caught either through direct contact with an infected person, or through the air when the patient coughs or sneezes. Dr Gerry Waldron is Acting Assistant Director of Public Health (Health Protection) with the PHA.

He says it is never too late to get immunised.

“If children are not vaccinated they are left exposed to a serious and potentially fatal disease.

“MMR immunisation is the safest and most effective way to prevent measles infection and it is never too late to get vaccinated.”

Northern Ireland has high uptake levels for MMR, Dr Waldron said, before adding that this was a great tribute to the medical staff involved in the immunisation programme and also parents.

“MMR uptake rates are very high – just over 93% of children have received it by the age of two and by five years of age,” he said.

Monday, 11 June, 2012 at 13:26 (01:26 PM) UTC RSOE

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Ireland: W Cork Measles Outbreak – 17 more cases

Ireland: W Cork Measles Outbreak – 17 more cases

Seventeen new case of measles have been reported during the last six days in an outbreak in southern Ireland.

The total number of confirmed cases in West Cork, Ireland, stands at 42.

Public health officials are urging parents to make certain their children are fully protected against the highly infectious illness, according to CorkIndependent.com.

�At the moment, the best way to ensure safety is to ensure that babies are not exposed to older children who may not be vaccinated and who are incubating the disease,� Dr. Fiona Ryan, a consultant in public health medicine, said, CorkIndependent.com reports.

�Some cases have unvaccinated brothers and sisters, so they are very likely to become infected.

Unfortunately the symptoms are very non-specific before they get the rash.�

Two doses of the MMR vaccine are recommended, with the first dose to be given at 12 months of age and the second between the ages of four and five.

Children or teenagers who have not received both doses of the vaccine can have it administered by a general practitioner free of charge.

Those affected in the outbreak have mainly been teenagers, but children under the age of 12 months are considered especially at risk.

�We have a worry that it will spread to other children,� Ryan said, according to CorkIndependent.com.
�We are expecting more cases.�In West Cork, we have quite a number of children that haven�t been vaccinated.
There are so many unvaccinated that you are getting a lot of spread. It�s a very, very infectious disease.�

The nationwide MMR vaccination rate in Ireland for children aged 24 months is 92 percent, but in West Cork 14 percent of children at that age remain unvaccinated.

Saturday, 26 May, 2012 at 05:27 (05:27 AM) UTC RSOE

Related: https://goatysnews.wordpress.com/?s=measles&submit=Search

Ireland: 25 unvaccinated, mostly teens infected in latest measles outbreak in Cork

The latest outbreak of measles in the Republic has occurred in west Cork, the Health Service Executive said yesterday.

Twenty-five children, mainly teenagers aged 12-18, have been diagnosed with the viral illness in the last four weeks.

None of those infected had been immunised with the MMR vaccine, which protects against mumps, measles and rubella, public health doctors confirmed.

MMR immunisation rates here have still not recovered following discredited research in 1998 linking the vaccine with bowel disease and autism.

Dr Fiona Ryan, specialist in public health medicine at HSE South, said, “This outbreak is affecting children who are not vaccinated. Siblings of children with measles, if not vaccinated, are also recommended to stay out of school or childcare during the incubation period (usually about 14 days but may be up to 21 days), to ensure that they do not transmit infection to other children who may be too young for vaccination or be at increased risk due to other conditions.”She urged parents of children who are not immunised to attend for vaccination.

MMR given to a child within 72 hours of exposure to measles may prevent the illness. The vaccine can prevent measles in more than 90 per cent of immunised children, following a single dose of the vaccine.

With a second dose of MMR vaccine, more than 99 per cent of immunised children are protected from measles infection.This vaccine is given free by family doctors to children aged 12-15 months, and a second dose is given at school entry.

MMR vaccination is also recommended for children aged 11-12 years who have not received two previous doses of MMR.Symptoms of measles develop nine to 11 days after becoming infected.

The first symptoms include irritability, a runny nose, red eyes, a hacking cough and a fever. These symptoms may last up to eight days.

A skin rash, consisting of flat red or brown blotches, starts from day four. It usually starts on the forehead and spreads downwards over the face, neck and body and lasts from four to seven days.

About one in 20 of those infected will get pneumonia, one in 1,000 will get encephalitis (brain inflammation) and between one and two in 1,000 will die from measles.

The latest annual report from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre showed a 149 per cent increase in measles cases in Ireland in 2010, with 403 cases notified compared with 162 cases in 2009.

About one-quarter of the 2010 cases required hospitalisation. Cases predominantly occurred in children who had not been vaccinated in what the surveillance centre said was a “worrying number of measles outbreaks in Ireland and Europe”.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control reported a recent measles outbreak in Ukraine, prompting a warning to soccer fans planning to travel there for next month’s European Championships to ensure they are fully immunised.

Tuesday, 15 May, 2012 at 04:05 (04:05 AM) UTC RSOE