The Western Australian Health Department is trying to get on top of a measles outbreak which has already seen some people in the Pilbara and Perth metropolitan area exposed to the disease.
The Department confirmed two locally acquired cases of measles had been identified in the state and issued an alert listing exposure sites in Newman and Perth, including Perth airport and a number of Qantas flights.
The cases take WA’s measles case count this year so far to 22, more than the total number of cases recorded in the state in the five years previous from 2020-2024, when a total of 16 cases were recorded.
Dr Paul Armstrong, Director Communicable Diseases Control Directorate, urged the community to be especially vigilant, with more people travelling during the school holidays and evidence of local transmission of measles occurring.
RELATED: Vaccine hesitancy on the rise
Commenting on the initial locally acquired case that was identified in the past week he said, “The latest case had no recent interstate or overseas travel history or known sick contacts, indicating that there have been undetected cases of measles in WA.”
Several countries around the world are experiencing measles outbreaks.
People travelling to these countries are at risk if they do not have immunity to the measles virus.
RELATED: Measles travel risk
Doctors are urged to be on the lookout for potential measles cases as the disease is highly infectious and typically develops around 10 days after being exposed to the virus, but this can vary from 7 to 18 days.
The Health Department warns waiting rooms can be potential sites for disease spread as droplets in the air may still infect people entering a room up to 30 minutes after an infected person has left it.
If someone not already immune to measles visited any of the exposure locations listed during the specified dates and times, they are advised to monitor for symptoms between seven to 18 days after the visit.
A Qantas spokesperson confirmed one of the cases was a staff member.
“One of our crew contracted measles following a flight in early July,” the spokesperson said. “We advised WA Health of our team member’s positive diagnosis and conducted contact tracing internally to identify other staff who might have been in contact with the impacted crew member.”
Want more news, clinicals, features and guest columns delivered straight to you? Subscribe for free to WA’s only independent magazine for medical practitioners.
Want to submit an article? Email editor@mforum.com.au