A 2018 hospital-mediated outbreak of 42 measles cases in Ireland: observations regarding emergency department waiting times and staff vaccination levels

Abstract

In Ireland, the measles vaccine was introduced in 1985, with subsequent incidence improving from 84 cases per million in 2004 to seven cases per million a decade later [1,2]. Endemic measles transmission was interrupted for the first time in Ireland in 2015, albeit that there have been sporadic outbreaks reported since with, indeed, a 40-case national outbreak almost immediately in 2016 [3]. While that outbreak was mediated largely by community transmission following importation of a single case from Hungary, we wish to present a concise history of an outbreak of similar scale derived from a single imported case, and observations regarding waiting time.