Parents have been urged to have their children vaccinated after an increase in the number of cases of measles in the greater Dublin area.
Sixteen cases of the disease have been reported in the area this week; the normal number is between zero and four. Six children have been admitted to hospitalised.
The director of Public Health in the Eastern Regional Health Authority (ERHA), Dr Brian O'Herlihy, appealed to parents to have their children vaccinated. He said that all the cases reported this week are recovering but the severity of the illness in some cases was a cause for concern.
Dr O'Herlihy said parents should have their children vaccinated with the MMR vaccine, protecting against measles, mumps and rubella once they have reached 12 months.
About 77 per cent of children in the eastern region are vaccinated by the age of two.
A measles epidemic in north Dublin city in 2000 resulted in several deaths, and a smaller outbreak occurred in 2003.
