A measles alert has been issued for Sydney after a young man contracted the highly-contagious disease. Sydney Local Health says the case should act as a reminder for everyone to check that they are protected against measles.
The man, aged in his 20s, visited Sydney's inner west, northwest and eastern suburbs while infectious in the past week, NSW Health authorities says.
The man had not travelled overseas immediately prior to his illness and had no known links to previously identified measles cases.
The man travelled from Wollongong on Sydney's south coast to central Sydney in late December and to areas of the inner west, as well as Bondi Beach.
Dr Leena Gupta from the Sydney Local Health District is advising people to be alert to the symptoms of measles. "Symptoms to watch out for include fever, sore eyes and a cough and that's followed three or four days later by a red blotchy rash that spreads from the head to the rest of the body."
The World Health Organisation says measles is transmitted via droplets from the nose, mouth or throat of infected people with symptoms usually appearing 10-12 days after infection. In 2019 a number of cases were reported across Australia.
In developing countries measles still kills tens of thousands of mainly young children, despite the availability of a safe and effective vaccine.
W-H-O says measles deaths have decreased worldwide from 550,100 deaths in 2000 to 140,000 deaths in 2018 mainly due to an increase in vaccination rates.
Despite the good news, there was a 30 per cent jump in reported cases worldwide since 2016.
In the United States, 112 cases were reported since September 2018, in the largest recorded outbreak in New York State's recent history while in Europe, there were around 60,000 measles cases in 2018, more than double those of 2017 and the highest this century.
Dr Leena Gupta says immunisation is vital especially for people born after 1966. "Prior to 1966 people actually probably had acquired measles because it was very prevalent and endemic in Australia. Since then people have had to get their vaccinations to get immunity. Anyone can be vulnerable to measles if they are in a younger age group, certainly if you are born after 1966 you're vulnerable. Particularly vulnerable are unvaccinated babies and it's really important so that everyone is vaccinated so we have good immunity in our community."
