A man has died in Ireland after contracting measles, the HSE has confirmed. 

The HSE’s Health Protection Surveillance Centre said the man died in a hospital in the Dublin and Midlands Health Region.

It is the first confirmed measles case in Ireland this year. 

The HSE has established a Measles National Incident Management Team (IMT) in response to a rise in measles cases in the UK and mainland Europe amid falling vaccination rates. 

The health service said the IMT is taking all necessary public health actions in relation to the case. 

There were four confirmed measles cases in Ireland in 2023, two in 2022, none in 2021, and five in 2020, with no deaths reported in each of those years. 

Professor Breda Smyth, Ireland's Chief Medical Officer, encouraged people to take up the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, adding that she is "very concerned" about a measles outbreak in Ireland.

In a post on social media on Thursday morning, Smyth said Ireland needs to "prevent as many cases, serious illnesses, and deaths as possible". 

A video posted alongside the statement warned that vaccination levels in Ireland have fallen below 90% nationally and below 80% in some counties. 

Speaking in the video, Smyth said vaccination levels needed to be above 95% to prevent measles from spreading. 

The video was originally published on January 26 and has now been reshared following the first confirmed measles case of 2024. 

Meanwhile, the HSE said it offers the MMR vaccine to all children in Ireland as part of its childhood immunization schedule. The health service added that any concerned parents should contact their GP. 

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly briefed the Cabinet on Tuesday that a rise in cases across Europe this winter, coupled with falling vaccination rates in Ireland, has raised fears about transmission of the disease in Ireland in 2024. 

The World Health Organisation has also issued an urgent measles warning after reporting a 30-fold increase in cases in Europe. The WHO reports that more than 30,000 measles cases were confirmed across Europe in the first nine months of 2023 compared to just 1,000 cases in the whole of 2022. 

Measles is a highly contagious disease that can lead to severe complications. 

It can take up to 14 days for symptoms to appear, with patients typically suffering from a runny nose, a cough, temperature, and red, watery eyes. These symptoms are generally followed by a rash, which appears a few days later.