‘Mystery’ illness outbreak at Cork refugee centre ‘under control’

Just before 6am yesterday morning, the health service in the county was notified that up to 30 Ukrainian refugees, who had recently arrived at the centre in Banteer, were feeling unwell.

The individuals complained of feeling unwell on Saturday with several saying their symptoms worsened overnight.

Their symptoms ranged from headaches, nausea, dizziness and high temperatures to coughing.

A group of 47 Ukrainian refugees had arrived over the previous 36 hours at the emergency rest centre at Banteer in north Cork.

As a precautionary measure, both local GPs and paramedics attended the facility yesterday.

Consultant in Emergency Medicine at CUH Dr Jason Van Der Velde confirmed that three members of a family, including two children, were taken to CUH for treatment.

Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Dr Van Der Velde said thankfully “everything is in order now” and the family has been discharged and returned to the Banteer centre where they are being looked after by local GPs and a public health team.

Dr Van Der Velde said it “inevitable” when a large number of “vulnerable people” are displaced from their homes, that these outbreaks “will occur."

"These were a group of 46 people who had not had access to healthcare and we had to be very careful. These folk had no basic medical support so we needed to examine and treat every single person just to make sure we were not dealing with something sinister or out of the ordinary,” he said.

"What was quite heart-warming to find was that it was just the basic, just bringing good quality analgesics, good quality anti-nausea medicines and rehydration medicines [and] we were able to get on top of the problem on site.

"We had some kids who were very shook and to get them from very listless, some of them not even rousable, to running around playing with toys that were donated by the good people of Banteer, it was very heart-warming to see."

Dr Van Der Velde said it would not be appropriate or “polite” to comment on “what the outbreak was” but it is important to deliver a “robust response” in these circumstances.

“Public health have this one under control,” he added.