Health Alerts

The measles epidemic in Nouvelle-Aquitaine has its first fatality, an unvaccinated 32yo woman who succumbed to the infection this week in Poitiers. Latest outbreak figures from the French health ministry reveal 387 cases, with 83 requiring hospitalisation and six of those treated in intensive care. Read more. Europe reported a more than tri-fold increase in measles cases in 2017 compared to 2016, and the outbreak continues in many countries (France, UK and Sweden), according to a European Centre for Disease Prevention (ECDC) report. Among the details: ‘45% of measles cases with known age were aged 15 years or older’ and ‘of all measles cases reported during 2017 with known vaccination status, 87% were in unvaccinated individuals’.

Further, this week health authorities in Ireland have confirmed that a measles outbreak previously confined to Limerick has now spread to Dublin – 11 cases in total have been reported but others in Munster and Dublin are under investigation. Read more