An HSE chief has called parents “irresponsible” for allowing measles-infected children to mix with other kids in public.
And Kevin Kelleher has backed a US move to ban unvaccinated children from public places in a New York county.
The Director of the HSE’s Health Protection Surveillance Centre said the move in New York was warranted.
He said: “It is at one level quite irresponsible to go out if your child has got an infection and mix with other children because you are potentially putting other children at risk.
HSE confirms seven cases of measles across Co Donegal as outbreak spreads
“People should stay at home if they’ve got the measles, it’s [the American move] an enhancement of that statement, in reality it’s the same statement.
“It’s no different to the States, now we don’t do it, but you can’t go into primary school without having all of your vaccinations, other countries have similar things, we all have different measures to get to the same sort of point.” Commenting on the severity of the disease, he urged parents to be vigilant.
Mr Kelleher added: “Measles is one of the most unpleasant infectious diseases, the figures are quite strong in what happens with measles.
“One in 10 people are likely to be hospitalised, one in 100 are likely to go into an intensive care unit and one in a thousand will die. We haven’t had a death recently but in our last very big outbreak in 2001, two or three babies died.”
Irish parents warned after five cases of measles confirmed in Co Dublin
He told RTE One’s Morning Ireland: “Europe at the moment is experiencing a significant outbreak of measles, particularly in the East and the South and therefore there are big outbreaks in France and Poland which have had a severe impact on the population.”
“So far this year we’ve had 35 cases of which only 19 are fully confirmed, we’re still striving to reduce the number of cases.
