ACT Health has issued a community alert following a case of measles being confirmed in the Territory.
Public Health Physician, Dr Kerryn Coleman said an ACT resident had acquired the infection on a recent overseas trip but to date, no further cases linked to the case had been notified to ACT Health.
“The person attended the Canberra Airport between 10am and 11am on Sunday 3 February while infectious, and as part of our investigations we are following-up identified contacts at this venue in that time period,” Dr Coleman said.
“Anyone who was at the Canberra Airport on that Sunday should be aware for signs and symptoms of measles from now until 24 February.”
She urged anyone with symptoms of measles to seek medical advice and to advise their health care provider before arriving at the clinic so that appropriate infection control precautions could be put in place to stop the spread of infection.
She said the symptoms included fever, tiredness, runny nose, sore eyes and a cough, followed by a rash which appeared 2-7 days later.
“People are infectious from five days before they develop a rash until four days after,” Dr Coleman said.
She said measles continued to circulate in many overseas countries, so people travelling overseas should check their immune status before they leave.
“Measles can be highly contagious among people who are not fully immunised (so) this is a timely reminder for Canberrans to ensure their vaccinations are up to date.”
She said people born in 1966 and later who did not have two recorded doses of MMR vaccine were also considered susceptible to the disease.
“Under the funded Australian National Immunisation Program, two doses of MMR vaccine are given to children at 12 and 18 months of age,” Dr Coleman said.
Anyone born in or after 1966 who had not previously received two measles-containing vaccines was eligible for free MMR vaccine which could be obtained from ACT GPs.
