Man in Ireland passes away from measles

A grown-up who got the measles has passed away in a hospital in Ireland, according to the country’s Health Service Executive (HSE).

This is the first case of measles confirmed in Ireland this year.

In 2023, there were four cases of measles, two in 2022, none in 2021, and five in 2020. No one died from measles in any of those years, the HSE said.

Health experts in Europe and the UK are concerned because vaccination rates are dropping and the number of cases of illness is going up.

The grown-up person died in a hospital in the Dublin and Midlands health area, which includes the Leinster province. The HPSC in Ireland has been told about something by the HSE.

The people in charge of public health and the team that handles measles cases said they are doing everything needed to keep people safe.

Professor Breda Smyth, who is in charge of the health of the country, said she is very worried that there might be a big spread of measles in Ireland. She wants everyone to get the MMR vaccine to protect themselves.

A video shared on social media on Thursday showed Prof Smyth saying that vaccination levels are now below 90% across the country and less than 80% in certain Irish counties.

She said that almost everybody needs to get vaccinated to stop the disease from spreading.

Since 2020, most people in Ireland who got measles had been to countries where there was a lot of measles, according to the HPSC.

Measles is a very easy-to-spread illness that can make you very sick, no matter how old you are. It spreads when someone coughs or sneezes.

It usually begins with a bad fever and a rash, which usually goes away in 10 days. But it can also lead to serious problems like pneumonia, meningitis, blindness, and seizures.

Last year, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that there were almost 45 times more cases of measles in Europe.

In 2023, 42,200 people got sick, while only 941 got sick in 2022.

The MMR vaccine is given twice. The first dose is given when a child is about one year old, and the second dose is given when the child is about three years and four months old.

The WHO thinks that there are more cases because not as many kids have been getting vaccinated for the disease during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Vaccination rates for the first MMR shot went down from 96% in 2019 to 93% in 2022 in Europe. The number of people getting the second dose dropped from 92% to 91% during that time.

That slight decrease in vaccination rates resulted in over 1. 8 million children in Europe not getting the measles vaccine in the last two years.

Dr Hans Kluge, who works at the WHO, said in December that the only way to keep kids safe from this very serious disease is to get them vaccinated.

Possible disease cases are increasing in England.

The UK Health Security Agency is worried about a measles outbreak in the West Midlands.