<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>339292</docID> <postdate>2025-02-28 10:07:30</postdate> <headline>Measles spreading locally as cases spark exposure alert</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-339293" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/20231224001881622757-original-resized.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="601" /></p> <caption>Two people likely acquired measles in Melbourne as they had no history of overseas travel. (Diego Fedele/AAP PHOTOS)</caption> <p><span class="kicker-line">By <strong>Callum Godde</strong> in Melbourne</span></p> <p><strong>Measles is spreading locally within Australia after two people caught the highly contagious viral infection without travelling overseas.</strong></p> <p>Two people likely acquired measles in metropolitan Melbourne as they had no history of overseas travel or known contact with other cases.</p> <p>"This means there is now local transmission of measles in the community," Victorian Chief Health Officer Tarun Weeramanthri said in a health alert.</p> <p>The cases were infectious when visiting 19 locations across greater Bendigo and metropolitan Melbourne.</p> <p>They include the Royal Melbourne Hospital and Bendigo Hospital emergency departments, a Keilor East swimming pool, supermarkets in Epsom and Bendigo, a beautician in Aberfeldie and Timezone at Highpoint Shopping Centre in Maribyrnong.</p> <p>Those who attended a listed exposure site at specified times have been advised to monitor for symptoms.</p> <p>These can include a fever, cough, sore or red eyes, runny nose, and feeling generally unwell, followed by a red bumpy rash.</p> <p>Symptoms can develop up to 18 days after exposure with people warned to be vigilant as initial symptoms may be similar to COVID-19 or the flu.</p> <p>People are potentially infectious from 24 hours before experiencing symptoms until four days after the rash appears.</p> <p>The virus can spread through airborne droplets or contact with nose or throat secretions and contaminated surfaces and objects, lasting for up to two hours in the environment.</p> <p>Eight measles cases have been identified in Victoria so far in 2025 after at least 15 were reported in the state last year.</p> <p>Reported measles cases in Australia fell from just over 280 in 2019 to 38 between 2020 to 2022, including none in 2021, amid COVID-19 international travel restrictions.</p> <p>As Australia reopened to the world, reported national cases rebounded to 26 in 2023 and 57 in 2024.</p> <p>Anyone born during or since 1966 who doesn't have documented evidence of receiving two doses of a measles-containing vaccine is at risk of contracting the disease.</p> <p>Unvaccinated infants are at particularly high risk, and pregnant women and people with a weakened immune system are more susceptible to suffering serious complications.</p> <p>All Australians are eligible to receive the free measles-mumps-rubella vaccine if born during or after 1966.</p> <p>People are urged get the vaccine before travelling overseas, especially those planning to fly to South and South-East Asia countries including Vietnam.</p> <p>Outbreaks of measles have been reported in Asia, Africa, Europe and the UK, the Middle East and the US.</p> <p>An outbreak in West Texas has led to the first US death from the illness in a decade.</p> <p>US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, who denied he was anti-vaccination in his Senate confirmation hearings, said 124 people had contracted the disease in the outbreak and 20 of those were quarantined in hospital.</p> <p>"There have been four measles outbreaks this year," he said during a meeting of President Donald Trump's cabinet at the White House.</p> <p>"In this country last year (there were) over 16.</p> <p>"So it's not unusual. We have measles outbreaks every year."</p> </body>