A drug-resistant “superbug” outbreak linked to bouncy castles sickened 48 children and teenagers in Ireland — sending 15 to the hospital, with four admitted, according to a new medical report.
Health officials traced the cluster to an outdoor social gathering in eastern Ireland in the fall of 2025, where children and teenagers played on three inflatable bouncy castles, many of them for hours.
Nearly every person who fell ill had attended the event, and all 47 cases who were there had played on the inflatables, researchers reported in Eurosurveillance.
The culprit was MRSA, a drug-resistant form of staph bacteria that can cause painful skin infections and, in serious cases, spread deeper into the body.
The strain behind the outbreak also carried Panton-Valentine leukocidin, or PVL, a toxin linked to skin and soft-tissue infections. Researchers said the strain is rare in Ireland.
The outbreak, which researchers said was the largest reported community-acquired MRSA outbreak in Ireland, affected children ages 5 to 16, with a median age of 12. Most were boys.
The illnesses showed up fast.
Thirty-four of the 48 cases developed symptoms within two days of the gathering, with some children becoming sick within 24 hours.
Symptoms included spots, pustules, redness, blisters and abscesses — pockets of pus caused by infection.
Among the 27 cases where doctors recorded the location of the infection, the legs were the most commonly affected area, especially the thighs.
Some children also developed fever, nausea or vomiting.
Thirty-three children were treated by a general practitioner, while 15 went to a hospital emergency department or day ward.
Four were admitted to the hospital, with a median stay of four days. None required intensive care and there were no deaths.
Researchers said the gathering took place on a warm, humid and intermittently rainy day, and parents recalled that children playing outside were noticeably wet.
About 120 people were believed to have attended, roughly half of them children and teenagers.
The event included a barbecue, gazebo, candy station and several inflatable play structures, including three bouncy castles.
Many of the youngsters spent hours on the inflatables. Nineteen of the 47 cases who attended the party were reported to have spent at least four hours playing on them.
Parents described the play as crowded and physical, with children engaging in what researchers called “rough-and-tumble” activity.
Health officials believe that prolonged close contact — combined with wet conditions and possible scrapes or breaks in the skin — may have helped the bacteria spread.
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