Co Kildare & surrounding areas sees HSE issue urgent warning with another Measles case being reported

The HSE have issued an urgent warning with  a new case of measles. This comes after two cases of highly contagious measles have been reported in Dublin this week.

An outbreak control team have now been convened in the capital to “investigate and control the spread of this potentially serious illness”.

Measles is a highly infectious viral illness and early symptoms can include a runny nose, red eyes, swollen eyelids, sneezing and fever. A few days later, a red-brown spotty rash appears and lasts for about a week. It starts behind the ears, before spreading around the head and neck, and eventually to the legs and the rest of the body.

 Anyone can get measles, although it’s most common in young children and typically clears by itself in about a week to 10 days if there are no complications. However, measles can be a serious illness and up to one in 20 infected children develop pneumonia, while one-two infected children in every thousand die from it. A similar number are left with deafness or intellectual disability. a