A teenager in Clare with meningitis has died and the case is being investigated by Public Health Mid-West.
Close contacts are being identified and offered treatment. Public Health chiefs explained that meningitis “is a serious illness involving inflammation of the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord" but stressed that the overall risk to the community is low.
They said the disease can be caused by a "variety of different germs, mainly bacteria and viruses” and that bacterial meningitis is less common but "usually more serious" than viral meningitis and requires urgent treatment with antibiotics.
