A MEASLES outbreak has swept through Orana Steiner School in Weston with at least two confirmed, and many other identified, cases of the disease.

Two students were diagnosed with measles yesterday but further investigation has led to the identification of more cases. The Health directorate has sent letters to notify parents.

“We are asking parents of students at Orana School to be alert to measles symptoms, exclude their child from school if they develop measles, seek urgent medical advice and contact the Directorate,” ACT Chief Health Officer, Dr Paul Kelly said.

“Health Protection Service (HPS) has begun contacting people believed to have been exposed recommending post exposure prophylaxis in line with national guidelines.”

Measles is a serious disease which is highly contagious for those among non-immune individuals who are not vaccinated or previously had a natural infection.

Symptoms of measles include fever, tiredness, runny nose, and a cough, followed by a rash which appears two to seven days later. People generally develop symptoms seven to 18 days after being exposed to a person with infectious measles, with 10 days being normal.

“Priority has been given to contacting the households and those most recently exposed contacts at GP surgeries and the Canberra Hospital. The guidelines require the Measles Mumps Rubella vaccine (MMR) to be given within three days or Normal Human Immunoglobulin (NHIG) within six days,” Dr Kelly said.

“Parents of any unvaccinated students in the same class as the students with measles are being asked to exclude their child from school until the end of next week.

“The most effective protection against measles is vaccination. Two doses of Measles Mumps Rubella vaccine (MMR) are recommended and are normally given to children at 12 months and five years of age. However the vaccine can be given at any age.

“While Australia has high vaccination rates against measles, the virus is highly transmissible and often causes localised outbreaks in communities with lower vaccination rates.

“The ACT has consistently achieved the highest vaccination rates in Australia for children under five years of age.

“Since the beginning of 2011, there has been a reported increase in cases of measles nation-wide. There have been 147 notifications of measles nationally to date compared to 69 for the whole of 2010. The majority of these cases have been in unvaccinated travellers returning or visiting from countries overseas in which measles remains prevalent.

“In the ACT we have had four notifications of measles to date in 2011 compared to one case in 2010.”