The number of measles cases in Europe rose by 400 per cent last year

The number of measles cases grew by 400 per cent in Europe in 2017, the World Heath Organisation has cautioned.

The organisation revealed this week that more than 20,000 people were diagnosed with the virus last year, with 35 deaths recorded. The numbers follow a record low in 2016, where they were just 5,723 cases. And the HSE's latest update says that there is an ongoing outbreak of the virus in the Mid West. They added that since October 2017, there have been more than 10 cases of measles in North Dublin and the North East. The update explained that in most of the cases, those who had been diagnosed did not get the MMR vaccine - designed to protect against measles, mumps and rubella. The HSE advised people to get two doses of the vaccine to make sure that they were best protected. The first dose, in Ireland, is given at 12 months of age by GPs, while the second is given by HSE vaccination teams  to Junior Infants in school or GPs in Donegal, Sligo and Leitrim. Symptoms of the highly infectious virus include  fever, cough, red and painful eyes, and a rash. Despite the influx of cases, Ireland does not feature in the 15 countries hit with large outbreaks. The countries with the highest numbers of affected people were reported to be in Romania (5,362), Italy (5,006), and Ukraine (4,767).