Major trace operation underway to find people who shared bus with man who died from measles

This exercise will aim to find people who may have come into contact with the deceased man, including bus passengers.

"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 HSE Measles IMT was established in response to a recent rise in measles cases in the UK and Europe," the HSE has outlined. 

The death of 48-year-old from Co Westmeath was a devastating blow for his family and friends.

The man was diagnosed with measles after presenting at the hospital. He subsequently became very ill.

According to the Irish Independent, is understood that hospital staff and people who travelled on the same bus as the deceased are among those being sought on behalf of public health doctors.

The newspaper outlined that they are considered contacts and it is possible that they may have been exposed to the virus.

The HSE offers MMR vaccine to protect against measles to all children as part of its childhood immunisation schedule.  The HSE also offers a catch up MMR option for children aged 10 years and under who may have missed out on vaccination. The HSE will keep the public informed of further measures and, in the meantime, anyone with concerns should contact their GP.

We have published our Weekly Infectious Disease Report. It has summaries of infectious diseases reported in Ireland during Week 5, 2024, broken down by:

HSE area
Age
Sex

Read the report herehttps://t.co/rNtSUfOAJy pic.twitter.com/pbo8YYVGiS

— HSE Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) (@hpscireland) February 8, 2024

There were four measles cases reported in 2023, two case reported in 2022, no cases were reported in 2021 and five cases were reported in 2020.  There were no deaths reported in any of those years.

There have been nine suspected cases of measles in Ireland in the most recent week for which data is available.