Another three cases of measles have been identified in Limerick, bringing the number of cases to 15 up from 12 last week.
The number of cases has been rising since the beginning of January.
It is mainly confined to two locations - the Ballinacurra Weston area and Carew Park area of Southill.
Public health officials remain concerned that the numbers of cases continues to rise.
Dr Rose Fitzgerald, a specialist in public health, said that until they go a couple of weeks without any new cases of measles they must remain vigilant.
She said the best protection against measles is to be fully vaccinated with two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine.
The Health Service Executive is running an MMR clinic in the Barrack Street Primary Health Centre on the city's Edward Street from midday tomorrow to encourage people to get vaccinated.
In particular, it has asked that specific target groups get the vaccine:
- Parents of children over one years old who have never had the MMR
- Children attending school who have not had two doses of MMR
- Those parents who are unsure if their children have had MMR vaccine
- Adults under the age of 40 who have never had the MMR vaccine
A total of 33 of 53 countries in the European Region have eliminated #measles. However, outbreaks will continue to occur until every susceptible child and adult is protected. #ImmunizeEurope #vaccineswork pic.twitter.com/yxxz9aLo6o
— WHO/Europe (@WHO_Europe) February 20, 2018
Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation is reporting a large increase in cases of measles across Europe.
It said there was a four-fold increase in cases as the disease affected 21,315 people and caused 35 deaths in 2017.
It followed a record low of 5,273 cases in 2016.
The surge included large outbreaks (100 or more cases) in 15 of the 53 countries, but Ireland was not included.
The highest numbers of affected people were reported in Romania (5,562), Italy (5,006) and Ukraine (4,767).
"Over 20,000 cases of measles, and 35 lives lost in 2017 alone, are a tragedy we simply cannot accept," said Dr Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO Regional Director for Europe.
